Graeme Swann Strongly Suggests England To Play James Anderson And Stuart Broad Together

Former English spinner Graeme Swann has offered simple and straightforward advice to England ahead of the second Test against the West Indies in Manchester. The hosts have a must-win game on their hands to keep their hopes of reclaiming the Wisden Trophy. And Graeme Swann has advised them to play Stuart Broad and James Anderson together to reign supreme over the Caribbeans.

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Anderson’s long-time pace colleague, Stuart Broad’s exclusion in Southampton derived plenty of criticisms from pundits as they thought England axed a genuine wicket-taker and a wrecker in home conditions. The 34-year old missed his first home Test since 2012, which was 51 consecutive fixtures without skipping one.

Broad shone last summer against Australia, picking 23 scalps at 12.23 despite which Jofra Archer and Mark Wood got the nod, a decision that played against them. Graeme Swann conceded that picking Broad and Anderson together is the easiest way to beat any touring party in England. The former off-spinner believes that Broad is a perfect foil to Anderson and that while the pair is present, England must play them together.

“If you want to know how to beat anybody as an England team, you pick Stuart Broad and James Anderson, together. While they are still working, still walking, pick them together for goodness sake,” the 41-year-old said as quoted by India Today.

Graeme Swann believes that Broad is a workhorse, who can be relied upon to bowl 25 overs in a day, consistently without delivering a bad ball. He blamed England for making the English bowling attack as fallible as possible by not including the 138-Test veteran in the line-up.

“England got their team selection wrong by dropping Stuart Broad. He is a good friend of mine but I won’t pick friends in my team. Remember, there is such a thing called donkey’s work in a Test match. A fast bowler who can bowl 25 overs a day on the sport, never bowl a bad ball, day in day out, same pace. That is Stuart Broad. He is the foil for James Anderson,” Graeme Swann stated.

They are not quick, not as effective: Graeme Swann

England’s second-highest wicket-taker amongst spinners continued by saying that the selectors picked Archer and Wood, who are the same type of bowlers. According to the Northampton-born, Wood and Archer cannot play the role that Broad does as both are not consistently quick or effective.

Amid the backlash, the home side’s coach Chris Silverwood has remarked that the country’s second-highest-taker might still miss the second Test. Yet, England will get some breathing space as Joe Root marks his return to take the captain’s hat and play the role of a mainstay in an inexperienced batting line-up.

“England picked up Jofra Archer and Mark Wood who are the same type of bowler, blistering bowlers who come on and bowl 5 overs, super-fast, try and knock people out, 90 mph. England picked them both and then they ended up having to do some of the donkey’s work. They are not quick, not as effective. England blunted their whole bowling attack by not playing Stuart Broad,” Swann, who played 60 Tests for England, added.

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