Buzzin Cricket

When Andrew Flintoff isn’t playing for the England cricket team, they need someone else to take over as the ‘go-to’ man with the ball. They need someone else to scare the opposition with aggression and they need someone else to take his share of One Day International wickets.

Well, it seems that Stuart Broad is the man prepared to step up to the task. The Nottinghamshire seamer – who took four wickets during Saturday’s ODI win over the West Indies – has revealed that he ‘thrives on the extra responsibility’ he has been handed since Andrew Flintoff’s absence.

Stuart Broad has taken the new ball for England recently and he admits that this is something he enjoys doing very much. He says that it is a ‘fantastic opportunity’ to be responsible for setting the tone of the innings in the first ten overs or so.

This is, of course, something Stuart Broad and James Anderson did very well over the weekend. The West Indies were 46-3 after the first ten overs at Bristol with Stuart Broad taking two of the wickets.

England then went on to win the game comfortably and did so without the influence of injured duo Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. This is a good sign for Andrew Strauss’ men. It shows that they can win matches without their star players.

Stuart Broad agrees that ‘it’s important you don’t rely on certain players’ and that ‘everyone needs to step up’ to the standard required to help England win more matches than they lose.

This is certainly something that Stuart Broad is doing right now. He is an integral part of this England team in every form and he is set to play a massive part in the future of English cricket.

In fact, if he keeps dealing with the extra responsibility so well and if he continues to bowl above 90mph, he could be the star of the summer for England, so bear this in mind when you place your 2009 ashes bet!