England pacer Stuart Broad believes that his long-time bowling partner and veteran fast bowler James Anderson is addicted to cricket and is bowling better at the age of 40 “than he was four years ago”.
Anderson, who will turn 41 next month midway through the final Test of the Ashes, is England’s leading bowler in Tests with 685 wickets and became the oldest player to top the ICC Test rankings earlier this year.
“Jimmy’s incredibly competitive. That’s his number one strength. He’s probably the most competitive person I’ve seen bar Jos Buttler in any sport that he plays. But he’s very driven. He’s addicted to cricket, to be honest.
“He’s an addict to training, an addict to getting better, improving all the time. And I think that’s showing now, he’s 40 and I think he’s probably bowling better now than he was four years ago. So, it’s an incredible testament to himself and the game,” Broad was quoted by Mirror.
Broad opened up about his partnership with Anderson, which commenced in 2008 when they first played together against New Zealand.
The duo has established themselves as the most formidable bowling duo in the history of Test cricket, amassing an astonishing total of 1,017 dismissals across 134 matches, thereby cementing their legacy as the deadliest bowling partnership in the longest format of the game.
“How I view our partnership is our job is to figure out conditions in those first ten overs with the new ball quicker than the opposition batters. That’s when we make breakthroughs and that comes through communication.
“I always leave it four balls before I speak to him, so I’ll always go and give him a little, you know, tap almost like a fist pump before he bowls the first ball, I give him four balls to gather his information to make sure he’s comfortable.
“It’s just a constant like information stream that comes our way and there’s no doubt that that’s taken our partnership to the next level,” Broad said.
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