Ashish Ranjan
The Ashes 2023 has been intensely competitive thus far, which is what cricket fans anticipate when two elite teams clash. The series currently favours Pat Cummins’s team 2-1. The fourth Test begins at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday, July 19.
Stuart Broad, the leading wicket-taker for England thus far in the series, has backed wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow to score heavily in Manchester after a lacklustre pair of games. Bairstow scored an aggressive 78 off 78 deliveries in the first innings of the first Test. His highest score since then has been 20. The pressure on the 33-year-old has increased due to his mediocre wicketkeeping performance.
Broad mentioned that he and Bairstow shared a similar trait. When their backs are against the wall, they excel. In a similar vein, the veteran bowler predicted that Bairstow would surmount his difficulties and return to form in Manchester.
“We all know Jonny Bairstow well enough to assert with certainty that he performs best under duress. In this regard, he and I are quite comparable. Consequently, I have a hunch he will deliver this week. Broad wrote this in his column for The Daily Mail: “He will feel he has something to prove, not to us in the dressing room, but to the outside world.”
I expect him to perform well in a high-pressure game: Broad
James Anderson, the legendary England fast bowler, played in the first pair of Ashes 2023 matches and took only three wickets in 77 overs. He was not included in the squad for the third Test. Broad stated that the 40-year-old’s groyne injury and the available pitches were unfortunate. In a high-stakes game, Broad stated that he anticipated a strong performance from his colleague fast bowler.
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“I’m aware that Jimmy Anderson, by his own admission, didn’t have the greatest games at Edgbaston and Lord’s, but I honestly believe he was unlucky, both with the timing of his groyne injury with Lancashire, which interfered with his Ashes preparation, and with the pitches. He has bowled who knows how many overs at Old Trafford, and I expect him to perform well in a high-pressure game, concluded Broad.
