Mount Maunganui (New Zealand): England seamer Stuart Broad has said that teammate James Anderson is probably the reason he is still going at the age of 36.
On Saturday, in the final session of the first Test between England and New Zealand, when Broad clean-bowled Devon Conway, it was a record-breaking 1002nd Test scalp as teammates for Broad and Anderson as the duo surpassed the mark 1,001 wickets achieved by Australia’s Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.
The record-breaking moment came almost 15 years on from when the pair first played together in a Test in New Zealand in 2008, at Wellington in the second game of a three-match series that England won 2-1.
“It’s a special country for us, New Zealand. Back in 2008 at Wellington we came into the team together. And to go past two heroes of mine growing up in McGrath and Warne, certainly we’re not in the category of quality of those two – they were absolutely heroic in what they did for the game,” Broad told BT Sport.
“But just to be up there and have taken the number of wickets with Jimmy… I feel very lucky and blessed to have been born in the same era as Jimmy because certainly without him, I wouldn’t have been able to be at the other end taking wickets in the partnership that we’ve had.
I’ve learned so much from him throughout my career and it’s probably the reason I’m still going at 36 – the way that he’s done it and been a great leader to follow,” he added.
England produced a clinical team performance to register an impressive 267-run victory over New Zealand in the first Test and take 1-0 lead in the two-match series on Sunday.
It was the first time England have won a Test on New Zealand soil for almost 15 years, with their most recent triumph coming when a seven-wicket haul in the first innings from Ryan Sidebottom led Michael Vaughan’s side to victory at McLean Park in Napier in March 2008.
–IANS
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