LONDON (Reuters) – England all-rounder Stuart Broad predicted this summer’s Ashes encounter against holders Australia would be “one hell of a series” particularly after the roaring success of his team in recent times.
Australia have not relinquished the famous urn since reclaiming it in 2017-18 but will face a buoyant England team who have won 10 of their last 12 tests under captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon “Baz” McCullum.
England’s highly entertaining “Bazball” approach threatens to revolutionise test cricket and Broad cannot wait to see how it fares in five-test series beginning in Birmingham on June 16.
“It’s going to be an incredible summer,” Broad told Sky Sports.
“For us as a team though, with the style of cricket we’re playing, we’ve quite openly said that we try to take the results out of it.
“It’s about entertaining the crowd and playing the sort of cricket people want to watch on the TV and listen to.
“That’s going to be our style, whoever we play against. We’re going to look to entertain and have fun – and it would be great to do that against Australia.”
England’s swashbuckling batting has particularly stood out and Broad had no doubts his team mates would dominate Australia’s formidable bowling attack too.
“The Aussies will be coming here pretty fresh, fit and ready. But we’ve played against some brilliant bowling attacks with the style of cricket we’ve played … and that won’t change against Australia.”
“We know they’ve got a really good attack and a great batting line-up, so it’s going to be one hell of a series.”
Stokes has asked for “eight fit fast bowlers” for the Ashes series and all-rounder Chris Woakes is optimistic of being one of them despite playing no first-class cricket following a knee surgery last July.
“There’s no cricketer in the country who doesn’t want to be a part of that,” Woakes was quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper.
The 34-year-old said he soon would have a chat with Stokes about a possible Ashes recall.
“I will give him a call to find out what he’s thinking from my point of view, whether he wants me to play in a certain way to get my way back in.
“I know Ben well and it will be an easy call to make. It’s easy to see (the style of play) from the outside but there’s probably more specific messages in the dressing room.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by…)
