From A Rookie to A Legend

On Tuesday evening, English seamer Stuart Broad became the second England bowler and seventh in the World to take 500 international test wickets.

Stuart Christopher John Broad, son of former English opener Chris Broad who is currently ICC’s Match Referee. Stuart Broad who turned 34 years last month became the second English bowler to surpass the 500 test wickets mark. He has also joined an elite list of balling greats like Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, James Anderson, Glenn McGrath, and yours truly, Broad who all are in the 500 Club. To date, he has played 140 Tests, 121 ODIs, and 56 iT20s for England.

Stuart Broad’s contribution to the game cannot be portrayed by any writing or documentary. He is a modern age great of the game. Broad made his one-day debut in August 2006 against Pakistan and his test debut in December 2007 against Sri Lanka. Many cricketing journalists and pundits say that Stuart Broad has played his last ODI match for England back in 2016 but there is no doubt that still at the age of 34 years, he has much more to offer in tests.

Broad became a household name in India back in the inaugural World t20. This tournament was held in South Africa. In a group match, England and India were honking horns against each other. It was a very tense match and then, Flintoff starting sledging Yuvraj. In the very next over, the displeased Yuvraj hit Stuart Broad for six consecutive sixes in an over. The World Cup, the brand new format, and Yuvraj Singh; all became an instant hit after the eventful over apart from the 21 year older Broad. After the match, Chris Broad congratulated Yuvraj and also said thank you for finishing my son’s career. 

Three years later after the Six Sixes, England won their first-ever World Cup. England became the third team in the world to win the World T20. Stuart Broad was among the 15 men who won the triumph in the Caribean Islands. Broad was a key player for the English team in the tournament and he took 8 wickets.

Later that year saw one of the biggest scandals in cricket's history. It was the last test of England versus Pakistan in 2010 at Lords Cricket Stadium. The match saw the no-ball saga by some Pakistanis. Their captain Salman Butt, Asif, and Amir were suspended for five years. England won the match by 256 runs due to the match-winning performance by Broad. He took 7 wickets in the first innings and 4 in the second. Apart from that, he also scored 169 runs. He became the second only player to do such a feat at Lord’s. 

In 2011, after the early exit for England from Cricket World Cup; India was touring England for all the format’s series. India lost the test series 4-0, the ODI series 3-0, and also the only t20 of the series. The t20 match is remembered for two reasons.

It was only international t20 that Rahul Dravid played. And the other reason was Stuart Broad. Broad was appointed as the t20 captain in that series only. He was a calm captain who captained his side for 27 t20s and 3 ODIs. He was praised by many former players like Andrew Strauss and Nassir Husain for his captaincy. But, he was later replaced by England’s current white-ball captain Eion Morgan.

Broad also had a great hand in the test series against India. He showed his class with the bat as well as the ball. He scored crucial runs for his team and came as a rescuer every time his team needed his assistance. He took 25 wickets against that Indian batting lineup for which he was awarded Man of the Series Award. His emergence as a balling all-rounder was denoted everywhere but not after 2014. When he was hit by a Varun Aaron bouncer.

Stuart broad debuted in tests for England in 2007. Since then, he was paired with his new ball mate James Anderson. The duo has played 117 tests together where they have shared 895 wickets between them. Anderson who has sent a batsman 595 times to the pavilion in his 153 test match was also present in the Old Trafford Stadium when Broad took his 500th test wicket. Broad’s 500th victim was Windies opener, Kraig Braithwaite. He was found before the wicket when the ball hit his back pad. 

The tale of entering the 500 club was full of drama. It was the first cricketing series after the coronavirus outbreak. The English modern great was seated on the bench for the first test of the series. England lost that match and prior to the second test, he said that “he is Frustrated, Angry, and Gutted. Later, he took crucial wickets for the England team in the second test, and his legs got sprinting in the third match. He took 6 wickets in the first innings of the match and four in the second half. He entered the 500 club with one another 10 wicket haul in front of his match referee dad.

Stuart broad has taken 501 wickets at an average of 27.94 for England. He also has 18 five-wicket and 3 ten-wicket hauls under his name in 140 test matches. What do you think would be his numbers when he would finish?