Stuart Broad has ruled himself out of England’s one-day internationals with Sri Lanka and targeted the first Test between the sides in June as his comeback match for the team following a troublesome knee injury, although he denied that there had been any discussions about relinquishing the Twenty20 captaincy.
Broad has not played since late March when England were beaten by the Netherlands at the Twenty20 World Cupin Bangladesh. The defeat was to be the end for Ashley Giles as one-day coach, with England since embarking on a new era under Peter Moores.
They are scheduled to play five ODIs against Sri Lanka between 20 May and 3 June, which follow a T20 between the sides. However, Broad is concerned that rushing back to action would aggravate a knee problem that he hopes will not flare up during a busy Test summer.
“I’ve played a lot of one-day cricket this winter so the decision was taken that I could take a six-week period to make sure the knee is fine to play throughout this summer,” said Broad, speaking at the launch of Royal London’s title sponsorship of English one-day cricket. “It gives [other] guys an opportunity and gives me a really good chance to get my knee a bit stronger and play some Championship cricket before the Test matches.
“The workload of the winter thickened the [right] tendon quite a lot so it was double the size on my left one. Fortunately it is one of those injuries that, when you are playing cricket and have the adrenaline going, doesn’t really bother you. But you sit in the car for 10 minutes and it’s like a Chinese torture. I think the season finishes really early so there is a September-October period if it is still bugging me to maybe go inside. It’s only a six-week rehab for an operation anyway so it’s not the end of the world. Hopefully after this good rehab period I’ll be fine.”
Asked about the T20 captaincy, Broad added: “It’s a conversation that hasn’t been had and doesn’t need to be had until later in the summer I think, but I need to sit down with Mooresy and Paul [Fabrace] and see how that’s going. I’ve always said that Test cricket is the absolute pinnacle for me and you’d prefer to miss three hours’ work than five days. But I love playing all three formats, it’s quite rare that a fast bowler does play all three formats in this era, but I enjoy doing that and I want that to continue. Obviously I want to be available for Twenty20 cricket but whether I’ll be able to play all the games, with such a busy 18 months, remains to be seen.”
Broad is not in the squad for England’s ODI against Scotland in Aberdeen on Friday, the first match of Moores’ second spell as head coach. Instead, the 27-year-old will make a return for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship against Durham on 25 May, also playing against Sussex before England’s opening Test with Sri Lanka on 12 June.
Despite Moores’ first reign ending disastrously, following a high-profile fall-out with Kevin Pietersen, and Broad’s disappointment that Giles has left the set-up, the pace bowler is confident England’s new dawn will prove successful.
“He’s very passionate and you feed off his energy,” said Broad of Moores. “As a player I was hugely disappointed when he left in that January period [in 2009] but am delighted he has got another opportunity.”
The first Test, at Lord’s, could see Pietersen attend as a spectator, despite being jettisoned by England after their dreadful Ashes whitewash in Australia last winter. Pietersen sarcastically tweeted that he was in the running for the England batting coaching role following last week’s departure of Graham Gooch, but Broad denied that his presence would cast a shadow.
“I don’t see it as a shadow,” said Broad. “Every player gets dropped and every player moves on and cricket will always continue when everyone is out of the set-up. I remember there was a big thing when Freddie [Flintoff] retired and we had the most successful three years the England team have ever had.
“It would surprise me if he nipped in [to the Lord’s changing room], to be honest. But yeah, of course he would be welcome.” Broad then joked: “Actually, there is a sign on the door at Lord’s that says: ‘Anyone is welcome at the coach’s and captain’s discretion.’ Fortunately I won’t be captain at Lord’s and it won’t be my call.”
