Image courtesy of: Zimbio
“I am pretty confident I will be able to play a full part in this World Cup”
England Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad has announced that he is confident he will be fully fit prior to the national team’s first group match of the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.
Broad was forced to miss the last two Twenty20 Internationals during England’s tour of the West Indies after succumbing to patella tendinitis.
“I might not play tomorrow as I haven’t actually run on my knee since I had the injection but I’d say I will definitely play against India the next day,” Broad said. “The soreness has gone a little bit. We had 12 hours in Dubai where I was able to get a gym session in and it seems to be progressing pretty well.
“If it was a Test match tour it might be more concerning. But with it only being four overs a game I am pretty confident I will be able to play a full part in this World Cup.”
While most former players and pundits believe England don’t really stand a chance of making it past the group stages of the tournament, Broad noted that if the national team were to make it to the semi-finals, that in itself would be a major accomplishment.
“The guys have been in great spirits and are really excited about coming here and putting those skills to the test,” he said. “This is our last tour of the winter having been in Australia for a lot of it but there is still a lot of excitement and energy about the World Cup and that is what you need.
“The thing about T20 World Cups is that it is all about momentum and peaking for those two-and-a-half, three weeks. The fact that no side has won it twice shows there is no particular speciality in the way you play, just that one team gets on a roll.
“In sub-continental conditions you probably expect a sub-continental team to be in the final and take victory but we know deep down we have some really good match-winners in our team. If one of those can take the tournament by the scruff of the neck suddenly you can find yourself in the final or a semi-final so it is really exciting.”