The next time Broad was an Ashes winner, England’s famous triumph down under in 2010-11, he played only two Tests before his series was ended by a side injury. He cried as he was hugged by England team doctor Nick Pierce in the dressing room at the Adelaide Oval and spent the third Test in Perth with the Test Match Special team before heading home to watch the rest of the series from his sofa.
Broad was two from two in Ashes series, but his role as the Pom the Aussies loved to hate was not forged until 2013.
In the tight first Test, Broad’s edge off the spin of Ashton Agar deflected off the wicketkeeping gloves of Haddin and into the hands of Clarke at first slip. Broad did not walk, Australia were out of reviews and the runs he went on to add helped England win the match.
In Broad’s defence, his brass neck looked worse because of Haddin’s inability to hang ont o the edge, but that did not stop Australia coach Darren Lehmann labelling him a “blatant cheat” whom he hoped “cries and goes home” in the return series down under six months later.
Broad knew he was going to cop it, not least when the Brisbane Courier Mail refused to print his name and ran a headline calling him a ‘smug Pommie cheat’.
“In the warm-up games I walked around the boundary edge with the psychologist or on my own,” he says. “If you walk around the Gabba there might be 45,000 people, so you just hear noise. If you walk around at a warm-up where there might only be 100 people, you hear every word.
“I wanted to build a shield around me. I wanted to hear the abuse to strengthen me. I worked with the psychologist, because I knew it was coming, to strengthen my resolve.
“When my name got announced that I was bowling my first ball in the first Test at the Gabba, the boos were unbelievable.
“The day before, I’d done my pre-match mental routine. I stood at the end of my mark, bowled four overs in my mind and I imagined the boos. I could feel it. I felt like I’d been there before. It definitely fazed me. I bowled a no-ball, a short one that got hit for four first ball. It was quite overwhelming.”
Despite that feeling, Broad recovered to take five wickets and, that evening, walked into the news conference with the Courier Mail tucked under his arm. It was England’s best day in a series where they were dismantled by Mitchell Johnson and lost 5-0.
Eighteen months later Broad was doing some dismantling of his own in a career-defining and Ashes-clinching performance.
In the fourth Test on his home ground of Trent Bridge, Broad was bowling England’s first over for the first time in the absence of the injured James Anderson. Using his local knowledge, Broad urged captain Alastair Cook to bat first if he won the toss.
“I was marking my run-up out and Shane Warne came over and said ‘That’s a bowl first, isn’t it?’,” says Broad. “I remember thinking Shane Warne is bat first everywhere. If he thinks it’s bowl first…
“I went over to Cookie. ‘Chef, it could be a bowl first’. He said ‘Don’t worry, I’ve made that call already’.”
Broad’s legs were pumping. Australian edges were swallowed by England slip fielders. Figures of 8-15 remain the best in Ashes history by a pace bowler from either side. Australia were torn apart in 18.3 overs and 94 minutes. 60 all out.
“You can’t take it in,” says Broad. “I got the five-for, it came up on the big screen and I didn’t have a clue.
“It took a bit of time – months – to see the scorecard and see 8-15 written. What was so special was Joe Root got a hundred in the same day. If we’d been bowled out for 100, it’s a different conversation.”
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