Stuart Broad Expresses Desire To Coach England’s U19 And U17 Fast Bowlers

Stuart Broad expresses desire to coach England’s U19 and U17 fast bowlers (Image Source: IANS)

The U19s: Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad has expressed a desire to coach England’s pacers at U19 and U17 levels, saying he hopes to nurture talents who could follow in the footsteps of Jofra Archer and James Anderson.

Broad retired from international cricket in 2023 after playing 167 Tests and claiming 604 wickets to become the second-highest wicket-taker amongst fast bowlers in Test cricket history after Anderson. Since his retirement, Broad has made a smooth transition to cricket commentary.

“I haven’t set any sort of targets or dates of coaching or what’s to come, but probably next year I’d start looking at dipping my toe into it a little bit more. It’s certainly something I want to stay connected to, the coaching.”

“I’ve chatted to Rob Key a little bit about doing some stuff with the younger bowlers in the England setups when the schedule suits. The U19s or even U17s – you really know what you’re developing, and you’ve got your base of technique, but the growth you can make between 15 and 20 is huge,” Broad was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

Broad had also served as consultant for South Africa ahead of facing Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s in June. Though he was commentating on the final, Broad remained in touch with South Africa’s players, and was thrilled to see then beat Australia to lift their first-ever WTC crown.

“I didn’t want to come in with loads, and that’s why I wanted to tell the coaches everything, and then they can feed back to the players a bit. I was really conscious that I didn’t want to come in with loads of information before one of the biggest games of their careers. I just chatted to the bowlers about different things.”

“You can try getting wider on the crease from the Nursery End a little bit, so you can draw the batters into playing. And we talked about the lengths you try and hit at Lord’s; how the conditions can change in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it might do nothing; get a bit of cloud and you can pick up three wickets in that hour,” he added.

Broad further said he supports England men’s managing director Key’s plan to involve former cricketers Anderson Flintoff and Graeme Swann in coaching roles to help strengthen the country’s cricketers.

“You can try getting wider on the crease from the Nursery End a little bit, so you can draw the batters into playing. And we talked about the lengths you try and hit at Lord’s; how the conditions can change in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it might do nothing; get a bit of cloud and you can pick up three wickets in that hour,” he added.

“What excites me the most is, where’s the next Jofra Archer? Where’s the next Jimmy Anderson? I watched on Instagram, Harry Moore, who’s been out with a stress fracture. I look at him and go, ‘huge talent, 6ft 6in, swings it both ways, hits good areas’ Where could he be in four years’ time? Maybe even less than that? Where can you spot these players whose ceiling is very high?” he concluded.

Article Source: IANS