Broad strokes of genius. Can he better Botham?

Trent Bridge: One of the more tiresome media themes of the last 25 years in England has been trying to find “the next Ian Botham”. Having bestowed that title upon about a dozen unworthy candidates, Stuart Broad may just be deserving of such credit. To qualify my reasoning first of all, there will never be “another Ian Botham” of course, but we are referring here to that rare quality of producing the unexpected, unpredictable magic that turns games from losing to winning positions. Botham was a maverick, Broad is not. But as game-turners, they are not too dissimilar. [caption id=“attachment_51247” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Stuart Broad celebrates taking the wicket of Yuvraj Singh. AP”] [/caption] England’s Twenty20 captain Broad was dropped from the 50-over team this month and was also under pressure from Tim Bresnan to lose his Test spot before the first Test at Lord’s, after struggling for wickets. But after a show of faith by the team management in his rich all-round potential for the all-important India series, Broad has delivered and surely rewarded Team Director Andy Flower, captain Andrew Strauss and (chief selector) Geoff Miller. He scored a vital 74 not out in England’s second innings at Lord’s when the team was wobbling and took seven wickets there also. But his efforts in the second Test at his home ground of Trent Bridge so far have even surpassed that. He has won the respect of India centurion and legend Rahul Dravid for his performances so far. “For a guy who was under pressure coming into the Lord’s Test match, he hasn’t put a foot wrong after that,” Dravid said on Saturday at Trent Bridge. “He’s done well, I thought he played really positively with the bat on Friday and took the game away from us with some bold shots – he took some risks and it paid off. “And then he bowled some really good lengths. He seems to handle the pressure and the scrutiny really well so that is a good sign for England and a good sign for him.” The son of former England opener Chris, who started his school cricket days as a batsman, has twice bailed out England at Nottingham; first with the bat, when scoring a swashbuckling 64 in 66 balls to help take England to 221 after being 124-8. And now with the ball, including England’s twelfth Test hat-trick. He is the kind of character who just makes magical things happen with bat or ball. There have been all-rounders for England who have been better at one skill or other than Broad, but few have possessed that rare quality of stepping up to make things happen when his team desperately needs that special performance. It is fitting that Broad should produce his latest show of promise on the 30-year anniversary of Botham’s Ashes. Broad’s spell of five wickets for no runs in 16 balls on Saturday evening was Botham-esque and even the great man ‘only’ managed five wickets for one run in his famous spell at Edgbaston against Australia in 1981. It’s not the first time that Broad has demonstrated these qualities either. His five wickets against Ricky Ponting’s Australia at The Oval in 2009 that helped to clinch that match and series is further evidence of that Midas touch. Ok, some may suggest this is fickle talk now that Andrew Flintoff is long gone from the England team. But while Flintoff hit the ball farther, was capable of bowling faster and probably revved the crowd up louder, it would be risky to say he was better than Broad. [caption id=“attachment_51248” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Broad will need to sustain his performance over the years. AP”] [/caption] True, Broad has to sustain his level of performance much more as Flintoff did play over an 11-year period, compared to Broad’s four at present. But while Flintoff could be explosive and exciting, he could also be exasperating and unreliable with the bat, going for big shots that were not warranted, and frustrating with the ball. He worked out far too late that he bowled a length too short to take more wickets. And his fitness was another negative, though few England fans should hold this against him such was his want to play on through the pain barrier. But Flintoff would nonetheless be one of the closer candidates to Botham’s crown. Other less deserving included (in no chronological order) Derek Pringle, Chris Lewis, Philip De Freitas, Dermot Reeve, David Capel, Mark Ealham, Darren Gough, Dominic Cork and surely there were more. Stuart Broad, though, has now become the most worthy of that tiresome title. And I fancy he may even go on to better things than Botham, even if he doesn’t get to have an Ashes series named after him. It will be fascinating to see if I’m right.