Broad anticipates renewed enthusiasm

Cricket365
May 7, 2014

England fast bowler Stuart Broad is expecting the team to show a lot more energy and enthusiasm when they begin the new international season in Aberdeen on Friday.

England fast bowler Stuart Broad is expecting the team to show a lot more energy and enthusiasm when they begin the new international season in Aberdeen on Friday, saying new coach Peter Moores engenders a pumped-up side.

Moores replaced the seemingly clinical and strict Andy Flower following a poor Ashes tour to Australia, and then Ashley Giles was the scapegoat after England crashed out of the World Twenty20 with a loss to Holland.

But Broad feels there is a new optimism in the side now, with the former Lancashire coach an old friend to many, and even though he is not fit to play due to a knee injury, he expects to see a more fun approach from the sidelines.

Broad said in the Telegraph: "I expect the side to play with a lot of passion and enthusiasm this summer which was missing in Australia. I was fortunate to work with him at the national academy when I was coming through.

"He gave me my Test debut and brought Jimmy (Anderson) and I into the Test side a bit controversially ahead of Hoggy and Harmy (Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison) in New Zealand.

"He is very passionate and you feed off that. He has had a lot of success with Sussex and Lancashire and I was hugely disappointed when he left England in that January period (2009).

"I feel sorry for Gilo [Ashley Giles]. I worked closely for him this winter and he had a rough ride in the fact he never had his full-strength side but still got us to a Champions Trophy final.

"It would be harsh if he did not get the job on the back of that Holland defeat. It is not as if that defeat knocked us out of the World Cup. We said in the changing room afterwards it could not have been a more disappointing result.

"We should have chased that score down with our eyes closed but nobody took the responsibility on. That can happen when you are out of the tournament."

The paceman was then inevitably asked about the side without Kevin Pietersen, and he insisted the team would be fine in the long run, just as they were when Andrew Flintoff retired.

He said: "I don't see it as a shadow. Every player gets dropped and the game moves on. Cricket will continue whoever gets moved out of the set-up.

"I remember when Freddie retired people said how England would cope but we had the most successful three years an England team has ever had. It can happen."

When asked if he thought Pietersen would be welcome in the dressing room if he popped in for a visit at Lord's next month, Broad opined: "It would surprise me if he nipped in.

"But of course he would be welcome, although actually there is a sign on the door at Lord's that says anyone can come in but it is down to the coach's and captain's discretion. Fortunately I'm not captain at Lord's and it will not be my call."