Stuart Broad: "We’d need to bowl Australia out by lunch tomorrow"

The radar had suggested that Friday might prove another frustrating occasion for ticketholders and teams alike, and the worst fears were confirmed, with England on a roll in ideal conditions for swing bowling, before play came to an inevitable end

Stuart Broad is remaining positive about England’s chances of squaring the Ashes series at Lord’s despite losing much of the third day of the Test to rain.

After the home side struck three times in the morning session amid dark skies and heavy cloud cover, the forecasts were proven correct as play came to an end shortly before lunch.

The radar had long suggested that Friday might prove another frustrating occasion for ticketholders and teams alike, and the worst fears were confirmed, with England on a roll in ideal conditions for swing bowling, before play came to an inevitable end.

“We’re pretty positive,” Broad said, with Australia 80 for four. He added to his wicket of David Warner on Thursday evening with a second scalp – that of Travis Head, trapped in front on review.

“We’d need to bowl Australia out by lunch tomorrow. There’s 98 overs for the next two days, which for both teams has been enough to bowl each other.

“There’s certainly hope for both sides. There could be quite an interesting, intriguing game left in this Test match although we’ve lost so much for rain.

“Our bowling unit’s aim is to get the next six wickets by lunch and then ideally bat until an hour, half an hour before lunch on day five and try to force a result that way.

“This pitch has got 10 good balls in it in each day. Hopefully we’ll be bowling last, there’s a bit of dryness so [Jack Leach] could come into the game with good footholes there. I think we’ll get 98 overs in in the next two days, so I think there is chance of a result.”

Broad, in his 128th Test, was full of praise for the man who opened the bowling alongside him in his first appearance in the five-day format.

Jofra Archer claimed his maiden Test wicket just as England were beginning to get frustrated. Australia had reached 60 for one without great alarm, before Archer jagged a sharp delivery back into Cameron Bancroft’s pads.

^{Stuart Broad dismissed Travis Head to take his second wicket of the innings}

“He’s got all the attributes,” Broad said of Archer. “He’s already been a successful international cricketer having been involved in a World Cup win.

“These conditions at Lord’s have been a bit favourable to the bowlers on day one and day two but that’s not taking anything away from the attributes he brings. You feel even on day four and day five pitches with his height and bounce, he’s going to bring stumps into play.

“It was a bit of a learner for him this morning, it was maybe a yard too short from all of us until we made a conscious effort to get it fuller and we got instant reward bringing stumps into play with Bancroft, and then [Chris Woakes’] full-of-a-length to get the edge.

“That was a bit getting used to the slope in red-ball cricket at Lord’s.

“He showed great control, bowls a nice nagging length. I don’t think there’s any doubt within the group and within the media that he has the attributes to be a Test cricketer. There are going to be times when he blows teams away.”

Despite the conditions and the troubles faced by his teammates – Matthew Wade only survived after successfully reviewing a decision, Steve Smith appeared calm and untroubled.

He left almost half the deliveries he faced from England’s bowlers – not necessarily a criticism of the home team’s seamers, but a recognition of the Australian talisman’s composure.

“I saw a video clip on Sky today where they showed a clip of [Smith] leaving,” Broad added.

The idiosyncrasies of the former Australia captain’s game make for unusual viewing, though Broad suggested that it was difficult to find them off-putting. Smith’s extravagant leaves became a talking point on a frustrating afternoon, with his sudden swishes of movement and waves of the bat.

“When you’re bowling at him you don’t see that because you bowl the ball, you’re looking to see where the ball bowls, you turn around and walk away,” Broad said.

“I suppose the fielders see a little more of that. He is quite fidgety. He might have even done Aleem Dar on Head’s lbw because he threw his arm out as if to say, ‘that’s going down leg side’. I think Aleem was going to give it and maybe saw Steve’s hand go.

“He explains every bit of cricket on the field with his movements after it’s happened. It’s the way he stays in his batting bubble and he does it very well.

“He just adjusts to what fields you set and what pitch there is. He’s a brilliant batsman at finding the gap. Today was a good spell of bowling from us at him and hopefully tomorrow morning we get similar conditions.”

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