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Stuart Broad has more great Test displays for England in him, says Ian Botham

Ian Botham congratulates Stuart Broad on surpassing his own Test wicket tally
Image: Ian Botham congratulates Stuart Broad on surpassing his own Test wicket tally

I couldn't be more pleased for Stuart Broad. It was only a matter of when, not if, he passed my wicket tally for England - and I think it's terrific that he's got there.

I've got plenty of great memories of his bowling and I'm sure there are plenty more to come yet because at 31, time is certainly on his side.

There's no secret to his success over the years - he makes use of all of the attributes that he's got.

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See the moment Stuart Broad moved ahead of Sir Ian Botham in the list of England's all time leading wicket takers.

He's got height and pace and he gets bounce; perhaps most importantly of all he has that knack of producing match-changing spells.

He demonstrated all that again today by taking three wickets for four runs in 11 balls, moving the ball both ways to telling effect.

It was another one of those occasions when everything just clicked into place.

There have been plenty of those over the years but the one that comes straight to mind was the five-for he took against Australia at the Oval in 2009.

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Stuart Broad says it was a 'special' moment to go past Sir Ian Botham on the list of England's highest wicket-takers

I thought Broady was trying too hard initially and he said as much after the match - admitting that it took some calming words from Alastair Cook and James Anderson to get him back on track.

Looking on, I got quite emotional waiting for him to get the wickets - not least because then everyone could relax!

It was great, too, that he could do it here at Edgbaston, where the atmosphere has been great and under the lights too. It could have been an anti-climax if it had occurred next week at Headingley.

He's come such a long way since I first had a real chat with him - that was before he'd even played a single Test.

Rod Bransgrove and I bumped into Stuart on a beach in Barbados and it was no surprise to me when his debut came very shortly afterwards in Colombo.

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Captain Joe Root hailed Stuart Broad after England's victory

Over 100 Tests later he's still going strong and hopefully we'll catch up later on in the week and open something special to celebrate his success. It's absolutely brilliant.

Watch England take on West Indies in the second Test - live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Friday.

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