He does. And I really like the man. Weirdly his test match batting is better than his county batting. After he got hit by Morkel, he averaged something like 3 for a full year (and then the Ireland test happened)
fair play to him
Broad I have sympathy for. He got a horrific injury, the psychology of that is immensely difficult.
Tbf to the lad, some of those pitches they've been prepping down in Somerset...
...massage his bowling figures, but definitely make him look a statistically worse batsman than he is.
That said, it'll soon be found out at test level that he's a bunny versus spin. The Aussies clocked it after Headingly and tossed it to Labuschagne as soon as he came on. That sorted him.
Broad hasn't averaged over 20 since 2014.
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Leach averaged 29.40 in 2019 (same source).
Anyone who watched him bat for England can see he's got a decent defensive game, good concentration and tenacity, the reverse of Broad who just flings his bat about for a few overs. Having him bat higher up may allow better batsmen, like Archer and Buttler to build a partnership with him.
He's a bunny versus spin. That's why his county average is where it is. They know, test teams will cotton on pretty quick. If not before, certainly when we go back to Sri Lanka.
Also, not sure we can say Archer is much of a batsman yet. The lad is averaging 5. He has all the shots, but one very crucial one at test level: the leave. He doesn't know how to do it.
Curran was too small, not fast enough, and wouldn't be able to get wickets on flat pitches iirc.
I never bought into that - always believed the change of angle, and a little bit of swing, would be better than another 'gun barrel straight' seamer.
NB - went to bed at lunch last night so have no idea if he swung the ball or not.
He swung it. Got some shape. The one that got Williamson mind, jumped up off a length out of nowhere. Naughty pitch, rather than anything he did (though he put it on a decent length tbf). Which is very encouraging, because it's only day two and I wouldn't fancy Joff or Broad in fourth innings if that's a harbinger.
He was the best bowler to be fair to him, but I still just can't see him as more than a fourth seamer. This is a pitch almost tailor made for him in that it favour slower bowlers who get a bit of shape - Southee, De Grandhomme and him - have easily been the best bowlers and everyone bowls under 82mph. That's unlikely to be the case in many other pitches.
If he adds 3-4mph to his stock delivery he can be our swinging third-seamer and he's young enough to do it - Woakes did similar. But he needs to do that.
