England paceman Stuart Broad hopes India stars Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli will keep Australia’s bowlers busy ahead of the Ashes during this week’s World Test Championship final.
India’s clash with Australia at The Oval gets underway on Wednesday, just days before the five-match series between England and Australia starts at Edgbaston on 16 June.
Veteran paceman Broad (36) has become a player Australia fans love to hate during a lengthy career that has yielded 582 wickets in 162 Tests.
And he caused more ire in April when he said Australia’s 4-0 series win over England in 2021-22 did not count as “a real Ashes” win, because Covid-19 restrictions made it void.
Australia now face a packed schedule of six Tests in under eight weeks that promises to test the stamina of their fast bowlers in particular.
Broad, asked on Tuesday what he would like to see in the final, replied: “I don’t want to upset any more Aussies!
“I would like it to be an old school, hard-fought Test match where India do really well, get Pujara booked in nicely, and then Kohli comes in and scores a great hundred.”
Despite the hectic schedule, Australia captain Pat Cummins, a 30-year-old fast bowler plagued by injuries earlier in his career, believes he can lead the tourists in all six of their Tests.
“It’s a balance. I’ve been exhausted and depleted before but still got up and felt like I did a really good job, said Cummins, who has taken 217 wickets in 49 Tests.
“I’ll be aiming to play all six. There’s some good breaks in between every batch of two Test matches here, so I think it’s manageable.”
England go into the Ashes in confident mood thanks to their aggressive style, which has led to 11 wins in 13 matches since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum joined forces last year.
“We’ve been part of multiple games that have gone down to the last ball in this last year, in New Zealand went to two in a row, that sort of drama would be unbelievable,” Broad said.
Former England coach Andy Flower has linked up with Australia for the Ashes and Broad hopes he doesn’t share any secrets with the old enemy.
Flower coached England from 2009-14 and held several other roles before leaving the set-up four years ago.
The 55-year-old took the Test team to No 1 in the world and oversaw three Ashes series wins, including a memorable 2010-11 victory in Australia.
“Andy is someone I learned a lot from early on in my career, he taught me a lot about how to stand up to the battle of Test match cricket,” Broad said.
“Hopefully he doesn’t give away too many secrets! But the game has changed a lot in the last 12 months. I don’t think anyone knows any secrets on the way Brendon and Stokesy operate with this team.”
© Agence France-Presse
