Broad gets his name on Lord's board and puts one over on dad
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Stuart Broad last night had 101 good reasons to celebrate his maiden Test century at the home of cricket – a hundred chanceless runs plus one entry on the batting honours board which his father, Chris, will now view with a lot of pride and a little bit of envy.
The good-humoured game of bragging rights between Broad Snr and Jnr took a big turn towards the son yesterday. Although Broad the elder scored six Test centuries for England, none of them were in this country, never mind at the world's most famous cricket ground.
"I will remember the feeling of getting to a hundred for the rest of my life," said the younger Broad, who has been talked about as an all-rounder but currently finds himself down at No 9 in the order. "And it's nice to be the first Broad on that honours board!
"I've always said I thought I could score a Test hundred and now, hopefully, I can use this as a stepping stone towards scoring many more. I've been working really hard on my batting and Graham Gooch [Broad Snr's former opening partner and now an England coach] has been a fantastic help."
This summer has been an emotional rollercoaster for Broad. His bowling helped England to win the first two Tests against Pakistan but his stepmother, Miche, died a few weeks ago and he was fined half his match fee for petulantly throwing the ball at the batsman Zulqarnain Haider during the Edgbaston match.
Yesterday, though, everything went perfectly for the 24-year-old, who was helped considerably by his fellow century-maker, Jonathan Trott.
"Trotty was absolutely fantastic in the way he was so clear with his thoughts, saying that I should look to play as straight as I could but also have some positive intent," said Broad. "I know as a bowler that if it is swinging around it's less fun if someone is having a go at you. I thought that if it was in my area I would hit the ball hard.
"I wanted to play quite freely because anyone who had tried to hang around had gone. But I knew that if we were 110 all out then this series was going to be 2-2, so it was a question of taking a bit of responsibility to bat with Trotty.
"I knew he could bat for long periods of time and score big hundreds. He just needed someone to stay with him.
"We all know what a great temperament he has – his innings was a special effort."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments