Stuart Broad is sometimes capable of offering an Olympian perspective. This not just because he is 6ft 6in tall; he has been around a while now. He has played 99 Tests and, though he may not look it, in this team he is as close to being the gnarled old pro as anybody. But he did not sound like one on Sunday as he contemplated a Test match that was heading towards such a riveting finale on Monday morning.
“All the players have enjoyed being here,” he said. “It’s lovely being on the boundary with some of the Bangladesh fans cheering England. I think they have really appreciated the fact that we’ve come. And I’m glad that the Test has been this exciting. I don’t think anyone likes 600 plays 600 but they are drawn to Test cricket when it is tight and exciting. I’ve been fortunate to play 99 Tests and this would certainly be in my top five nerve-wracking matches. It shows how far Bangladesh cricket has come.”
Broad explained how the role of the fast bowler is so different here. “All the three [England] seamers in this game are talking about are economy rates and trying to dry up the runs as much as we can. At tea we said we didn’t feel like we were going to get blazed through the covers or smashed over our heads. We could hold it for half an hour and they might get frustrated. It is a bit of a different mindset.
“I do like bowling at Trent Bridge with three slips and a gully – don’t get me wrong – but here it might be a challenge of trying to bowl a leg-cutter and getting them to push it in the air. Then you hope and pray for some reverse swing because if you get that it’s a different game.
“Often it’s a lot of hard work for little reward. Trev’s [Bayliss] almost saying we are doing the spinners’ job in England. We’re trying to tie it up for a bit, create pressure and let the spinners do their magic. I don’t think we’re under any illusions that it’s going to be a tough winter if we are going to play on wickets like this all the time.”
But Broad did not seem so despondent about that. The sub-continent has rarely been his favourite hunting ground. In fact, he has only ever taken three second-innings wickets in Test matches here and two of those came on Sunday, when he seemed to relish the role of the philosopher king while mulling over the events of the last four days.
He is capable of seeing the wider picture, which may explain how he so often comes to the fore when a match is in the balance. However he did not quite stretch to suggesting that, whatever the result on Monday morning, “cricket will be the winner”. He was rather hoping that England might sneak home.
