Stuart Broad believes the fielding set-up for Steve Smith was part of the plan.
On the 3rd day of the first Ashes Test between England and Australia at Gabba, the visitors had a tough going. From the start, the rival captain Steve Smith took control of the match and went on to score his 21st Test century. With wickets continuing to tumble from one end, the batsman kept the other end safe and helped his side in gaining a lead of 28 runs. He remained 141 not out by the time Aussies were bowled out for 328.
After coming in to bat, England lost two quick wickets in the form of experienced Alastair Cook and in-form James Vince. Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood knocked both the wickets and left England reeling at 33/2 at stumps.
But, in spite of what appeared like a bad day at work, English seamer Stuart Broad believes that the visitors did not let the home side get away from them at any stage. “We didn’t let them get away from us at any stage and we’ve seen as a batting group, if someone shows a lot of patience and gets stuck in, it can be quite hard to get them out.”
Smith, in an interview, questioned the fielding set up employed by Root when he was on the crease. But Broad said it was all part of the plan. “We know the Australians like to score quickly, if we can restrict them from scoring a lot of boundaries then we’ll have periods of taking wickets. The fewer balls we can bowl at Steve Smith, the more balls we can bowl to batsmen at the other end, and the better for us.”
The bowler added that Smith’s ton was the slowest of his career. “It must have been one of his slowest hundreds he’s scored for Australia,” he said.
England faced a tough session by the end of the day as Aussie bowlers dominated after taking two early wickets. A deadly delivery from Mitchell Starc went on to smash Joe Root in the head but the English skipper escaped unscathed. He, along with Marc Stoneman ensured the visitors do not lose any more wickets in the day.
Broad applauded the resistance shown by the two batsman and said it could have gone worse for them. “You can so easily lose four-five wickets and that’s the test match gone in those sessions. Obviously a bit disappointed to lose two wickets but as I said, it could have been a lot worse,” the 31-year old said.
He added that the coming day will be difficult for the visitors: “It was just proper theatre wasn’t it, proper test match cricket. Fast bowling, batsmen playing it well, a few blows being taken but tomorrow will be difficult.”
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