South Africa vs England: Stuart Broad tops rankings but says Jimmy Anderson's still the main man

Stuart Broad’s 6 for 17 against South Africa catapulted him to the top of the ICC rankings. But, he modestly tells Stephen Brenkley, Jimmy Anderson is still England’s main man

Stuart Broad celebrates taking the wicket of Temba Bavuma on the way to bowling England to victory on Saturday (Getty)

Stuart Broad reflected yesterday on being at the top of the tree. The world’s No 1 Test bowler. He was having none of it.

“It might sound odd, but I’m not the best bowler in the world,” he said. “Dale Steyn is the bowler of our generation. Just have a look at his record, his wickets, his strike-rate, his average. He is the best bowler in the world.

“My dad always talks about Malcolm Marshall being the bowler of his generation, well Dale Steyn is the bowler of our generation. I’ve been very privileged to play with Jimmy Anderson for a long time and he is certainly the best bowler England have ever had in my view. I didn’t see Trueman and didn’t watch much of Beefy live, so you have to judge it on who you’ve seen bowl.”

Broad was being calmly realistic, paying suitable homage to the South Africa speed merchant, Steyn, who until last month had a virtually unbroken seven-year run at the top of the ICC rankings and to the man with whom he has opened the bowling in a record 58 Tests. He was also diligently courteous in introducing to the conversation the names of Fred Trueman and Sir Ian Botham, fast and furious record breakers of their own time, as well as the brilliant Marshall, who dismissed Broad’s father, Chris, five times in Tests and took 371 more wickets besides.

But anyone who saw Broad at the Wanderers on Saturday propelling the ball at speeds approaching 90mph, while obtaining movement through the air and off the pitch, accompanied by venomous bounce, would not doubt his credentials at this moment to be judged ahead of all his peers. And that includes the redoubtable Steyn and the masterful Anderson.

Broad seized the moment in a way that he so often has in a Test career that started a little more than eight years ago when he was 21. It was the seventh time he had taken five or more wickets in a single spell and this one yielded five in 31 balls costing one run, which was scored when a catch was dropped, by Anderson of all people. From the moment he had Dean Elgar caught behind off a fizzer, he was utterly compelling. It was as if, once more, a hidden force was telling him, assuring him, that this was his day, his time.

Root loses out by being too quick to seal winning run

There was some confusion at the end of the match at the Wanderers on Saturday. England made rather a meal of getting the winning runs until the estimable Joe Root drove through mid-on.

It went for four and England had their series victory. Their total was duly increased to 77 and Root had seven not out. But within minutes both scores were reduced. Root and James Taylor had completed the single required to win before the ball crossed the boundary – so that counted instead of the four. Hopefully, the three runs will not make an abiding difference to Root’s average at the end of his career.

He finished with 6 for 17 in 12.1 overs, figures that did not quite match his 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge last August, but then nothing will ever match that. South Africa were bowled out for 83, their second lowest total since readmission to international cricket in 1992, and England were all but home and hosed. A day later the updated rankings were announced. He had leapt ahead of both Steyn and Ravichandran Ashwin, who had ended Steyn’s long tenure only a month ago. Joe Root is No 2 in the batting.

“I’m delighted to be at the top of that list because I’ve worked hard to stay fit and I’ve worked hard on the consistency of my bowling, so it is nice to be rewarded with the ranking,” said Broad.

Being No 1 can be a flawed honour

The first England bowler to be top of the world rankings was Alfred Shaw in 1877. He took eight wickets in the first Test match of all, including the country’s first five-wicket haul.

There have been 18 more until Stuart Broad, who moved top of the list on Sunday, and included Alec Bedser, Fred Trueman, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Derek Underwood, John Snow, Bob Willis, Ian Botham and, most recently, Steve Harmison. Of course, for all except Harmison it is a historical accolade since the rankings did not actually exist at the time. Nor are they foolproof. At the end of the Bodyline series in 1933 Harold Larwood was deemed to be only the third best bowler on the planet.

“The congratulations messages I’ve had have been awesome and it shows it means a lot to people and that they care. I’m not going to walk away from this week thinking I’m a better bowler than Dale Steyn or Jimmy Anderson because that is not the case, but it is a nice feeling to have reached this mark through my performances.

“The biggest thing is that I’ve stayed fit. You can’t take wickets on the physio bed, can you? So a lot of credit has to go to the guys behind the scenes for keeping me fit and I also understand my body a bit more now. I’ve played nearly 40 Tests on the bounce now which is quite rare for a fast bowler.”

The match at the Wanderers was his 38th in succession. Only Botham and Matthew Hoggard among English fast bowlers have had longer sequences – Botham a remarkable 65 matches between 1978 and 1984 and the durable Hoggard 40 between 2004 and 2006. Broad’s previous best run in his total of 90 Tests was 19 from 2008 to 2010. But injuries, niggling and chronic, constantly interfered.

The last of a severe nature was tendinitis in his right knee, which needed managing for more than a year and eventually required surgery. But he was able to have the operation in a rare long gap between Test matches and said it was the “best decision I have ever made”.

Speedy Tait finds patience pays off

Pace counts in Twenty20. In searching for it, Australia have recalled Shaun Tait to their squad after a break of five years. Never a long-form merchant, he could still be devastating over four overs.

Historical ICC rankings indicate that Broad is the 19th England bowler to be adjudged world No 1 since Alfred Shaw assumed the mantle in 1877. The most durable was Botham between August 1978 and February 1981, the most recent was Steve Harmison, who touched the skies briefly between August and December in 2004.

“It is not something to take for granted and it is a very special thing to have happened,” said Broad. “It is not the end goal and it doesn’t feel like the biggest thing right now because there is so much more going on with the team. I’m not being aloof or disrespectful, but there is such a determination in the side to get this team to No 1.

“In saying that, when Trevor Bayliss took over he did say that the only way to get the team to No 1 is for individual players to start climbing the rankings, and we’ve had Rooty at No 1 as a batsman, Jimmy and I have consistently been in the top five or six for a while and Ben Stokes is climbing highly in the all-rounders. There is such a goal for this team to become the best, and we know it is still a way off just now, but give this team another year’s experience and then it really becomes an exciting time.”

England should savour their win

It is England’s 11th series victory in South Africa, their second since the end of exclusion. Only Australia and England have won here in those 24 years. The achievement is considerable.

It was Anderson to whom Broad kept returning, perhaps recognising that fast bowlers always hunt best in pairs. Anderson would hardly be human if a little of him were not envious of Broad’s newly exalted status. Anderson may be England’s leading wicket-taker but the highest place the ICC rankings bestowed on him was second in 2011. That man Steyn ruled all he surveyed then.

Broad said: “Yes, of course he’s delighted for me. We really are a partnership and we talk about it all the time. We’re very fortunate to have played the amount of cricket we have together.

“There have been times when we could have been cast aside by selectors, without doubt, but we’ve been given opportunities to succeed and we’ve done that nicely. We suit each other’s style of bowling. We can be grumpy with each other, we can congratulate each other, but we’re always even, there is never a battle between us to get wickets.”

Anderson has 429, Broad is third in the England list now with 330, behind Botham. There is power to add.