Batting intent shows Stuart Broad and James Anderson buy into new era

The most obvious improvements in England’s victory at Lord’s were in the fielding, which was at once more ambitious and more effective, and the lively introduction of Matty Potts.

The most subtle improvement was in England’s body language, which should improve even more when Ben Stokes leads out his team at Trent Bridge: England are 1-0 up, having won the first match of a series for the first time in over a year, and Stuart Broad is the local hero.

Because it is a thing of the past, it can now be said that for many England supporters the most uncomfortable feature of the latter stages of Joe Root’s captaincy was the frequent manifestation of disunity on the field. After one of England’s regular batting collapses, the body language would often become appalling. 

England, in reply to Lower Transylvania’s 480 all out, would slump to 120 for eight and it would be made abundantly clear by Broad’s wild slogging and James Anderson’s reverse-sweeping that the two veterans were hacked off by this inadequate batting, and the disastrous fault-line between batsmen and bowlers was reopening in the dressing-room. (Having an all-rounder now for captain, with a foot in both camps, should prevent the fissures re-emerging.)

Over their careers, Anderson and Broad have been superlative, beyond the call of duty, in supporting their fellow bowlers and throwing themselves around in the field, regardless of exhaustion, self-preservation or advancing years: they have truly set a magnificent example. 

But not in recent years when needed to support the batsman at the other end: since August 2020, Broad’s highest score has been 15 – this from a player who has scored a Test century – while Anderson’s highest has been 10. In the Lord’s Test Broad was