Stuart Broad believes England have “a lot of strength in depth” ahead of this summer’s Ashes after his five-wicket haul against Ireland on Thursday I Watch day two at Lord’s, live on Sky Sports Cricket – coverage from 10.15am, with play starting at 11am on Friday
Stuart Broad felt England played the way Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum would have wanted them to as they made a near-perfect start to a big summer of cricket.
Broad’s five-wicket haul helped the hosts dismiss Ireland for 172 before they finished only 20 runs behind on the opening day of the one-off Test at the home of cricket.
Stuart Broad ripped through the Irish top order during the first hour on his way to figures of 5-51 from 17 overs to get himself on the Lord’s honours board for the first time since 2013.
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James McCollum (36), Paul Stirling (30) and Curtis Campher (33) all made starts but could not kick on with Jack Leach helping himself to three wickets and Matthew Potts securing a brace of scalps.
It was then over to Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, who wasted little time getting back into the groove and played true to the aggressive ‘Bazball’ style that has taken the nation by storm with fifties in a century opening stand to help England close on 152-1.
“When you win the toss and bowl, your aim is to bowl the team out in a day so to have done that was a big tick,” Broad reflected a day before the one-year anniversary of the Stokes and McCullum era.
“Then I thought the way the three guys played this evening was exactly the mindset that Baz and Stokesy want. It was positive, aggressive, put the bowlers under pressure and we’ll hopefully see a bit more of that tomorrow.