Stuart Broad expressed concerns over the future of the England bowling attack after James Anderson’s imminent retirement.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
James Anderson, England’s most-capped Test cricketer, will retire after England’s first Test match of the summer of 2024, against the West Indies at Lord’s from July 10.
Anderson will retire with 188 Test caps, the second-most in history, after Sachin Tendulkar’s 200. His 700 wickets are the third-most in the history of Test cricket, after Muttiah Muralidaran (800) and Shane Warne (708), and the most among fast bowlers.
Stuart Broad, Anderson’s new-ball partner for years, had retired after the summer of 2023. Speaking as a guest on the Sky Sports Cricket broadcast, Broad expressed concerns around the inexperience of the potential England attack in the post-Anderson era.
“England could easily go into a Test match this summer with a very, very inexperienced bowling group,” Broad voiced his concern. “If you don’t play a [Chris] Woakes, Mark Wood has a rest, and there’s no Jimmy Anderson, you could have three seamers and a spinner out there potentially with 20 caps between them.
“But that could leave you a bit exposed. There’s only one way to find out with bowlers, and that’s to give them a go: encourage them to communicate out there, encourage them to solve their problems live in a Test match, with the scrutiny of media and fans, and pressure of winning.”
England will be hosting the West Indies and Sri Lanka for three Test matches each in the summer of 2024. While wary of the strength of both touring sides, Broad was optimistic about England’s chances: “Ultimately, we might look at this summer as India not coming, or a really good South Africa team, but Sri Lanka and the West Indies are capable of beating England, without doubt. We saw the West Indies at the Gabba. But England will have the mindset they should be winning six Test matches.
[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]
“With the style of play they’ve been operating with, and the quality of players England have got, there’s no doubt England’s goal will be to win all six. If you set that goal, you need to pick a bowling attack you think could take 20 wickets as well. It’s not just about throwing caps away and saying ‘have a go’: you need to pick a bowling unit that can win on that particular pitch.”
Broad spoke about the imminent inexperience of the England attack after Anderson’s retirement: “There’s going to certainly be a huge hole left by Jimmy Anderson that someone is going to have to step into … Not just by swinging the new ball but by communicating, by keeping calm if the boundaries are leaking, by tactically being aware of what field works at certain grounds, pitches and times of Test matches.
“Ultimately, you don’t learn that unless you’re thrown in. I think exposure for some bowlers now is really important, because there’s talent out there.
“You’ve got the likes of Matthew Potts, who has done well in Test cricket and on a Lions tour; Gus Atkinson has loads of great attributes; Josh Tongue who struggled a bit with injuries over the winter but bowled great against Ireland and Australia; Brydon Carse up at Durham has shown some good potential and has attributes to play Test match cricket: quick, tall and can certainly bat as well; Jamie Overton has struggled with injuries but shown promise as well.
“There’s [sic] bowlers out there that need a bit of exposure to see what it’s about in Test match cricket. To know if their bodies can take it and adjust, they may pull up this summer with the intensity and think, ‘gosh, I’m really sore; the intensity is much higher than I thought’. They may need time to adjust their training plan and how they operate before a tour in two years’ time.”
Broad also spoke very highly about Anderson and how they worked together: “My thing was always continuous improvement. Jimmy’s has always been that as well, and we drove each other forward a lot with that mindset: working on different things in the nets, run-ups. I think Jimmy worked on a new run-up at 41. I certainly changed mine in 2019, and I was 33-34.
“We always had that mindset you had to keep improving. That was probably why he played that much. If we didn’t have that mindset, we might have played 20 Tests and then been found out.”
