Stuart Broad: "Give everything to this week, train hard and, if I get in the team, everything will be left on that field"; watch the first Test between England and New Zealand live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 10am on Thursday
Wednesday 1 June 2022 06:12, UK
Stuart Broad says he's ready to give his "heart and soul" for England and leave everything on the field if selected for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's on Thursday.
Broad and James Anderson were both left out of England's most recent Test series, in the West Indies in March, despite sharing a combined 1,177 Test wickets between them.
But the 35-year-old told reporters Tuesday that, despite the omission, he was able to keep a positive mindset after discussions with Nottinghamshire psychologist Chris Marshall.
"No, not at all," Broad said when asked if he feared for his Test future. "I still felt like I had a lot to offer to the team.
"As a professional sportsperson, if you don't believe you're one of the best bowlers in the country then you're stuffed, aren't you? My mindset was still that I was in the best bowling group, particularly in England.
"Missing out on the West Indies was disappointing. But my approach was to take March off, chill out, and get really fresh, buzzing to play and come back with Notts ready to strike at the right time.
"I've actually done a lot of work with Chris Marshall, the Notts psychologist, on my mindset, because I think that's the most important thing for me going forward.
"Rather than going through the summer and thinking, 'I really want to make sure I'm fit for that second Test of the South Africa series', life doesn't work like that.
"It's very much a case of be grateful for what I've got this week, give my heart and soul for this week, and then if I'm a bit stiff and sore next week or don't play, they want to give a new bowler some experience, then great.
"Give everything to this week, train hard and, if I get in the team, everything will be left on that field.
"I said to Jimmy, whether we get 0-100 or 5-30, the performance doesn't matter right now, it's all about us giving everything to the England shirt and the environment.
"We're good enough that the results will look after themselves in the long run anyway."
Broad added: "I feel like I'm bowling well and I'm ready to have an impact on England winning games again."
Thursday's game against reigning World Test champions New Zealand is the first of a new era with Ben Stokes as captain and former Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum as head coach.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Broad said: "There's an excited feel to the group.
"We know Brendon has had incredible success as a player and a leader in New Zealand. He has gone into coaching and has a really clear mindset on how he wants cricket to be played.
"You can see he had a great stamp on New Zealand cricket and hopefully he can have that stamp on English cricket.
"We all went to St George's Park last week for a couple of days, got together, had a team meal that night, and there is a lot of energy and focus to get going for a busy international summer."
Beyond the anticipated recalls for Broad and Anderson, England's squad isn't too dissimilar to the one which lost 1-0 to the West Indies in the Caribbean.
Yorkshire batter Harry Brook and Durham fast bowler Matt Potts were both called up for the first time - the latter in contention to make his Test debut and fill one of the bowling berths at Lord's - but the rest of the squad is largely familiar.
Former England captain Michael Atherton told Sky Sports it's understandable that McCullum doesn't want to 'rip it all up;' right away.
"He [McCullum] doesn't really know enough about English cricket yet," Atherton said. "It will take him a while to get his feet under the table, to get a sense of the players who are around the squad right now and also those who are waiting in the wings.
"You wouldn't expect to see dramatic changes initially, but there might be a bit more clarity of direction from the top.
"Obviously you'd expect an England side led by Stokes and McCullum to play a certain way, and usually when there's a change of management - captain, coach, whatever - teams get an initial, automatic uplift in terms of performance."
On the style of play fans can expect under the new partnership driving England's Test team, Atherton added: "I think everybody's hoping England can play smart, effective and, ultimately, winning cricket.
"There will be times when you need to take the game on, put your foot down and go after the opposition, and there will be times when you're on the back foot a little bit and have to grind it out, tough it out.
"McCullum was a brilliant cricketer, and he was of a type - on the aggressive side, both as a captain and a player - but he was also somebody who could play the long game as well.
"He was a very smart and effective cricketer, and I think that's what he will be hoping for from his team above all."
New Zealand seamer Tim Southee, who is expected to play at Lord's, played in 48 Test matches alongside England's new coach McCullum, and expects him to deliver "exciting and fearless" cricket.
Southee told reporters on Tuesday: "It will be an exciting brand of cricket, I'm sure. They won't die wondering I'd imagine - if the way he goes about things is anything to go by.
"It's exciting and obviously a great challenge for Brendon. Everything he does, he gives it 100 per cent so this will be no different. He's excited about what lays ahead of him and I'm sure he'll be doing everything he can to bring the best out of this England Test side.
"I know him pretty well; the way he played his cricket was exciting and fearless. That's the way he is as a person and I'm sure that's the way he is as a coach as well."
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.
