James Anderson and Stuart Broad are set to play England’s first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on Thursday
‘The more things change, the more they stay the same’.
Despite how endless their Test careers may seem, it’s unlikely James Anderson and Stuart Broad were the target when that phrase was first coined in the 19th century, but they may as well have been.
England start the 2022 summer with a new managing director of men’s cricket, a new white-ball head coach, a new leader of the Test team and a new captain for the longest format too, but conspicuous among Ben Stokes’ charges for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on Thursday are Anderson and Broad, spearheading – yet again – an England Test attack on home soil.
England vs New Zealand
June 2, 2022, 10:00am
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Anderson turns 40 this summer, with Broad celebrating his 36th in the next month, giving rise to talk over the last few years of ‘load management’, ‘squad rotation’ and ‘succession planning’ – coincidentally, the point at which England’s red-ball thinking has become muddled and their results increasingly disappointing.
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We take a look back at some of the most memorable moments in previous matches between England and New Zealand
In the litany of fast-bowling greats, Anderson and Broad are quite literally England’s best ever, Anderson’s record 640 wickets placing him third all-time in the history of Test cricket (first among fast bowlers) and Broad’s 537 good enough for sixth spot on the same list.
Yet, it was only a matter of months ago both had legitimate cause for concern over their international futures, left to contemplate their cricketing mortality as they were axed from England’s touring squad for the West Indies in March.
Anderson spoke of his “frustration”, “anger” and “shock” at the time, telling the BBC’s Tailenders podcast: “I’m praying this isn’t the end.” Broad, similarly, wrote in a Daily Mail column, that the decision had affected his sleep and he was waking up “more confused and angrier with each passing day.”
Both pointed to the fact that, despite their advancing age, they continued to maintain the highest standards, and that is born out in the stats.
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James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been among the wickets during the early part of the County Championship season
Anderson even said how “since I’ve turned 35, my record has got even better”. He averages a superb 21.72 in his 44 Tests since his 35th birthday on July 30, 2017, compared to a career mark of 26.58. Anderson also returned the best average of any England bowler during their 4-0 Ashes drubbing over the winter, 23.37, as he took eight wickets in three matches.
Broad’s average is also improved over the last five years, with his returns in 2019 and 2020 particularly noteworthy. England’s leading wicket-taker in the 2019 Ashes (23 in five Tests at 26.65), Broad dismissed David Warner a staggering seven out of 10 times as the Australia opener managed only 95 total runs across the series.
Stuart Broad celebrates the wicket of David Warner again during his incredible Ashes series in 2019
A year later when unceremoniously axed from the first Test of the summer against the West Indies, Broad used it as fuel for arguably his best year yet for England as he took 29 wickets at an astonishing average of 13.41 over the rest of the summer, earning himself a nod for BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the process.
Yet, despite consistently continuing to produce the goods, over the last three years in particular the pair’s playing time has been increasingly ‘managed’, or ‘mis-managed’ as the case may be.
Their advancing age has been a factor, as has been England’s eagerness for a pacier attack to lead them on the lively tracks of Australia in the 2021/22 Ashes – Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone all specifically identified with that in mind, but with only the former ultimately fit and available. Covid, too, has been a further complication, in terms of its affect on squad harmony and management.
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Theories were put forward that only one of Anderson or Broad should be selected for any given Test, that they should be left out of certain overseas tours where pitches were expected to be unresponsive (see: West Indies 2022), and they should be held back for matches when conditions are most favourable for their skillsets.
It resulted in England fielding a team with both Anderson and Broad only five times in each of the last two years, and four times in 2019, although that had more to do with Anderson suffering at the time from a recurring calf injury. In the seven years prior, the pair failed to play less than 10 Tests together in a calendar year only once (eight games in 2014).
The disruption to England’s greatest ever new-ball pairing has been keenly felt during their desperate recent run of one Test win and 11 defeats from their last 17 matches, most notably when both were overlooked in favour of Ollie Robinson and Chris Woakes for the first Ashes Test in Brisbane – on a green seamer – and then promptly reinstated for the second day-night Test in Adelaide, where the ball was expected to swing but did very little. England suffered heavy defeats in both.
Such confused thinking was a contributing factor to Chris Silverwood losing his job as head coach, following director of cricket Ashley Giles out the door. And it seems the new regime has different intentions with regards to selection, of which Anderson and Broad are beneficiaries.
“I’d rather have them playing as much as possible,” England’s new MD, Rob Key, said of the pair. “We’ll try and make the most of them while we’ve still got them.”
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England’s new Test captain Ben Stokes reveals his plans for Joe Root, James Anderson and Stuart Broad this summer
Stokes said similar upon their reintroduction to the Test squad: “The best chance to win Test matches is by picking your 11 best players and they are part of the best XI, so, yeah, it’s pretty simple.”
An injury crisis has further helped Anderson and Broad’s case – Wood, Woakes, Archer, Robinson, Stone, Sam Curran, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher are all currently unavailable for selection – but, Key added upon his hiring that selection would “purely be done on what is the best eleven to win that first Test match… nothing more and nothing less.”
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Nasser Hussain says regardless of injured bowlers, it was inevitable Stuart Broad and James Anderson would return to the England squad
And, in English conditions, Anderson and Broad are unmatched. Four-hundred-and-two of Anderson’s wickets have come at home, including a staggering 23 of his 31 career five-fors. Though much-improved abroad over his 19-year international career, his average is still a notch above 30 compared to a lowly 24.20 in England.
Broad’s stats are similar, with 341 wickets, at an average of 25.78, coming at home – including, famously, a career-best of 8-15 in dismantling Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015 – compared to 196 at 31.31 overseas.
How long they’ll continue to perform at the top level is anyone’s guess, but there’s certainly no talk of rest or rotation for either ahead of the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s.
And while Thursday certainly signals the start of another new era of English Test cricket, it is one with Anderson and Broad yet again firmly placed at the heart of it.
Watch England take on New Zealand in the first Test, from Lord’s, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Thursday.
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