Stuart Broad has signalled his intention to fight fire with fire in the Ashes after defending his decision not to walk during last summer’s series victory against Australia.
During the First Test at Trent Bridge, Broad stood his ground despite clearly edging the ball behind, where it was eventually caught at slip after bouncing off wicketkeeper Brad Haddin’s gloves. Broad’s stand with Ian Bell proved decisive in England’s win.
Australia coach Darren Lehmann was then fined by the International Cricket Council for remarks made about Broad in a radio interview. Now, as England prepare for their first warm-up match of the winter, against Western Australia starting on Thursday, Broad has come out fighting.
“My first comment on that whole incident is I could name you 18 or 19 players who played in an Ashes series who nicked it and didn’t walk,” Broad told the BBC this morning in Perth. “We could be here all day if I named players from the past, and I am trying to think of someone in the modern game who is consistently a walker.
“It’s a really interesting debate and something that got blown so out of proportion, maybe because the Australians were frustrated they had wasted two referrals.
“It was an important moment in the game because, let’s be honest, if Ian Bell and I hadn’t put on those runs, we wouldn’t have won the Test match, so we would only have won the series 3-1 or something.”
Batsman Kevin Pietersen has now joined the squad after being allowed to fly to South Africa first for personal reasons.
