Broad knows his troubles are far from over

While England may be thanking their lucky stars to have pace bowler Stuart Broad back in the squad, the seamer himself is a lot more pessimistic as he knows the recent heel injury he picked up in India is going to be a long-term problem that the medical staff will have to continuously keep a close eye on.

Broad played his first Test match against New Zealand after spending nearly nearly five months on the sidelines and took three wickets in the Black Caps’ sole innings of the match.

Broad’s heel injury was so severe that he actually had to travel to Germany to be fitted with a specially designed pair of boots made for himself, which is meant to take the pressure off his heel when bowling.

However, despite getting the specially designed boots, Broad is still wary of the fact that his heel injury will continually come back to haunt him.

“It is going to be a long-term thing,” Broad said. “It is a laceration of the fat pad so is not going to go away overnight.

“It is something I need to manage. It has been good these couple of weeks, I have found good ways to look after it. It is not going to go away with a week’s rest or a year’s rest.”

In order to keep his international career afloat, Broad knows that he will have to make the ultimate sacrifice and rest himself during periods when the pain becomes too intense.

“If I did pretty much anything else in the world but bowl seam it would not be a problem, I don’t feel it walking or running or batting – it is just fast bowling,” he said. “I do not get too down about it. It is something I have to manage. We have a great management team on the physical side.

“We have been speaking to specialists all over the world trying to find out what they can do, but there is no operation or injection suitable for it. It is manageable at the minute.”