“Six Sixes in an over...Yuvraj Singh Finishes Things off in style…”- Ravi Shastri’s voice still echoes in the minds of fans, especially the Indian fans who love recalling that one insane over in T20I cricket. English fans, on the other hand, would love to forget their memory once and for all. And to be fair, Stuart Broad has done enough in his career to have reduced the significance of that memory from his second year of international cricket. But as it has always been for the tall and lanky offspring of Chris Broad, there’s often been a ring to the past. 

That’s how Stuart Broad is, he always rises to the occasion when England are in dire need, especially against the Aussies - when James Anderson’s heavy numbers take a dip. He’s the most Australian amongst non-Australian cricketers, he is heavily booed at, but one thing that Broad isn’t is rated. With over 450 scalps in Test cricket, Stuart Broad is the 7th highest wicket-taker in history and yet his best reputation is that of an ‘on song’ bowler who knows his way with the bat. To the rest, he’s still just a shadow of the six sixes Yuvraj had punished him with almost 12 years ago.

Numbers show how Broad has sailed the ship for England in occasions where their best ever bowler, James Anderson was away. At Edgbaston, in the first Ashes 2019 Test, Anderson could only bowl four overs before he had to leave the ground due to a side strain. Naturally, Stuart Broad was the one to lead the bowling attack in the absence of Jimmy. The 33-year-old produced handsome bowling figures of 86/5 to restrict Australia to 284 despite Steve Smith’s heroics. The numbers above won’t show us that, as Anderson was officially a part of the playing XI. And yet, what numbers show are good enough to portray how instrumental is the 6ft 6 in tall fast bowler in his team’s exploits. Since mid-2015, after England had faced a shameful exit from the World Cup, Broad has played without Anderson in 13 Test matches, bagging 49 wickets at an average of 21.36 that includes his record-breaking figures of 8/15 at Trent Bridge, his celebrated home ground.

6 - Shane Warne

4 - Bill O'Reilly

4 - Glenn McGrath

4 - Stuart Broad

With 23 wickets at 26.65, Broad was the most consistent English bowler across the series -something he has always been in a majority of the Ashes contests that he has featured in- and the second-highest wicket-taker after Australia’s Pat Cummins(29). However, he has often been considered as an on song bowler, someone who comes in and produces series-defining spells on his best day. And yet, his impact has never been as hyped as Archer’s spells. Maybe because Broad has a babyface as opposed to Archer’s deep stare, neither can Broad ever bowl as fast as the Barbadian nor keep targetting the head of batsmen excessively in his spells.

But does great bowling necessarily have something to do with inflicting fear in the batsman? Looking at Stuart Broad, we learn that there’s definitely more to it as the 33-year-old is well aware of his skills and that’s probably the best thing about him. He pays attention to his game, he knows when he bowls well and gives a virtual pat on his back for it and above all it makes him happy. And that’s how Broad got rid of the dangerous David Warner on seven separate occasions and bowled well with the new ball in each innings. He knew what he had to do against the left-hander, who has dominated over him in the past. He mastered the art of bowling round-the-wicket to left-handers and he also kept his pace soaring while bowling a fuller, more attacking length. He acknowledged that it’s the best he has ever bowled.

"I've been very pleased with how it has gone this summer," he told Cricinfo. "I've gone from being talked about as a diminishing cricketer being eased out to a reinvented cricketer with more to offer. At 33 years old that is a good place to be.”

Stuart Broad might not have hit Steve Smith’s neck but his ball that got Travis Head out at Leeds was a technical genius, an absolute jaffa. While that incredible delivery gets no mentions in the highlight of the series, Archer bouncer became the talk of the season. 

And yet somewhere between the madness of Archer’s Mitchell Johnson-like stare, Ben Stokes’ exploits in Leeds and Smith casting a spell (with his bat) like Hermione Granger, Broad’s consistent brilliance was lost at a speed of above 90mph. He has been a shadow of Anderson before, and once in years when he had the chance to overcome that, he was overshadowed by Archer. But Stu refuses to be affected by that, he’s proud of his game. Perhaps, the Australian fans were right. Stuart simply refuses to walk(away).