“We’ve got to restart and go again”
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England pace bowler Stuart Broad has announced that the national team’s “confidence is good coming into” the five-Test series against India, which gets underway on July 9 in Nottingham.
Broad’s comments come after England suffered a 1-0 loss to Sri Lanka in the recent two-Test series.
“We lost the series against Sri Lanka but we played a lot of good cricket in that series,” Broad told Sky Sports. “We did some brilliant stuff with some debut hundreds and that sort of thing. The confidence is good coming into this series.
“Obviously, the last time India were here it was probably the best series we have played for years, but a lot of that team has changed.
“Some players can take some confidence from that but the majority of players have changed from that series so this is a completely fresh series. We’ve got to restart and go again.”
Broad also believes that captain Alastair Cook will snap out of his jinx during this series.
“He’s obviously worked hard in the nets as Cooky does, he’s always first in and last out,” Broad said. “He likes to hit a lot of balls pre-series and that’s no different this week.
“He just needs that change of luck, all cricketers go through it from time to time and it’s Cooky’s turn.
“We know he’s world class, we know he’s played over 100 Test matches with the record he’s got and there’s no doubt that will change for him.”
Meanwhile, national selector James Whitaker revealed that England’s pace attack will be rotated throughout the series since it takes place in a short time frame.
“We’ve got 42 days, 25 Test match days, 10 training days, five travel days – (that) only leaves two days without cricket duty,” he said. “A lot depends on how we bowl. If India are getting four or five hundred every innings then the bowlers might have to take a break from time to time.
“But if we’re bowling really well and we’re only fielding for 80-90 overs an innings, that obviously makes a huge difference on the workload. The important thing will be to keep the bowlers as fresh as we can.
“There’s a lot of successful Test sides [that] play with a specialist spinner – we’ve seen that, obviously, with Graeme Swann in the past few years with this England side. But, South Africa have done it very successfully with a spin bowler that holds an end up.
“It’s not a major concern in the near future and it’s something the seamers just need to get used to – a bit of extra bowling workload, bowling a bit more when the ball is not doing a huge amount. But, we’re all experienced enough to be able to do that and change our game plans.”