England’s Broad raring to attack against Pakistan

LONDON: England’s experienced pacer Stuart Broad said he was raring to go and attack against an inexperienced Pakistan team in the Lord’s Test which starts on Thursday.

Broad and his new-ball partner James Anderson have 941 wickets and are the most experienced pace bowlers currently playing Test cricket and they give England the much needed edge in the two-match Test series.

“I can honestly say I’ve never approached an international summer with as much confidence as I have at the moment — and it’s all down to the work I did during my action in the Ashes and the trip to New Zealand,” wrote Broad in his column for The Mail.

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“Since the Sydney Test, I’ve picked up 25 wickets in five games for England and Nottinghamshire, and a lot of that is down to the fact that I am now backing myself to bowl a fuller, more attacking length.

“I now know I can beat the right-handers on both sides of the bat, because my wrist is behind the ball and I’m hitting the seam. Because of my height, that makes me a dangerous proposition.

“I’m itching to get out there against Pakistan at Lord’s on Thursday.”

Broad said he has been focusing bowling against left-handers, so Pakistan’s new opener Imam-ul-Haq might be on target at the outset.

“I think I’d spent so much time over the past few years bowling to left-handers, especially from round the wicket, that I’d got into the habit of only bringing the ball back in to the right-handers, not moving it away from them. I don’t want to lose that skill of bowling to the lefties, but equally I needed to rediscover my old threat.”