The 2021-22 Ashes will begin on 8th December. Stuart Broad has wrote in his column for Daily Mail that due to the extra-ordinary circumstances owing to Covid-19, players from both sides are lacking game time to go full throttle in the first Ashes Test.
The first Ashes test will begin in Brisbane on 8th December
Stuart Broad wrote in his column for Daily Mail: “I’ve come back from this calf injury hungry and I feel like something is building here. We can’t get away from the fact that we are probably the worst prepared England side to travel to Australia in the modern era: the rain has stuffed us out of sight, we have guys who have only faced eight balls in match conditions and bowlers who have only sent down 10 overs.”
“Conversely, mentally we could be the freshest England side that’s ever been here and we know Ashes cricket is a mental game.”
“It’s unrealistic to think that the 22 players who go out there for this first Test will do so in great form and in truth all of us will be finding our feet in one sense or other.”
Broad further wrote: “I saw Pat Cummins in the hotel lift the other day and he said he’s not had a full day in the field for 10 months. That’s a long time. It’s physically demanding and we are not going to be able to deliver unbelievable levels of skill for five days.”
“Players will make mistakes and that makes things harder for the batters than the bowlers, in my opinion. If I bowl a ball that goes for four, I get another go immediately. The chance is there to grow through the innings. But if a batter makes a mistake first ball, then they’re gone.”
Stuart Broad also talked about his 150 England caps. He wrote: “An England cap with 150 on — it feels like an unbelievable number of matches to have been a part of given how physically demanding this form of the sport is, so if I get handed it at the Gabba on Wednesday or at Adelaide the following week, it is an achievement I will be proud of.”
“Of course, I want to be out there from the start, and fitness-wise I am good to go having recovered fully from the calf injury that kept me sidelined at the end of the summer, but selection is in other people’s hands and I think I’ll play in one of the two matches. It is going to be a tall ask for fast bowlers to go back to back here in the circumstances we find ourselves in.”
