It might be that by the time the expedition made it back to St Louis, Clark had got to wondering why Lewis’s name always came first. After 10 movies, Rogers definitely felt a little resentment towards Astaire. And when Martin and Lewis broke up their partnership after 10 years they didn’t speak to each other again for another 20. It’s not always easy being yoked so close, so long. But it has its benefits, particularly in cricket. Ask Hall and Griffith, Lillee and Thomson, Waqar and Wasim, Ambrose and Walsh, McGrath and Gillespie, or, of course, Anderson and Broad, best of the lot, or at least the most prolific, 883 wickets between them, in 116 Tests together across 12 years.
Thing is, when you’ve worked so well together for so long, it can be hard for anyone to think of you apart, especially for the junior partner. And here’s the really interesting bit. When Hall finished, Griffith followed later in the same series. Thomson managed only another two once Lillee quit. McGrath did five after Gillespie’s last, Walsh did 10 after Ambrose was gone, Waqar just 12 more without Wasim. It may be that England pick both Anderson and Broad in the third Test on Friday, but the way they’ve kept them apart in these last two games suggests that there are going to be times ahead when the two of them are competing for the same place.
So, great friends and teammates as they are, Anderson and Broad are just starting to pull apart. Anderson’s about to turn 38, Broad, four years younger, is keen to prove that he can, and should, carry on leading England’s attack long after Anderson finally retires. Which is another reason why it must have stung him so much when he was left out of the team at the Rose Bowl last week. In the press conference he gave midway through that game, he promised he’d be on the money next time he played. And he was. Ben Stokes won the man of the match, but it was Broad who turned it back England’s way when it was starting to drift away on Sunday.
It was Broad who snapped the back of the West Indian batting when he took three wickets for a single run in 14 deliveries with the second new ball. West Indies, who had been a serene 242 for four, were all of a sudden 252 for seven and struggling to save the follow-on. On Monday morning, Broad did it again. This time he cut apart their top order, had John Campbell caught behind in the very first over, bowled Shai Hope with a wicked delivery that nipped back to hit the top of off stump, and in the third over after lunch had Roston Chase lbw with another that would have done the same if his pad hadn’t been in the way.
The ball that cut through Hope is the one that will make Broad’s showreel, the batsman collapsed around it like a deckchair. But Campbell’s wicket, less spectacular than the other two, told you a lot about how well he’s bowling too. The ball before it was full, right up outside off stump, and Campbell hammered it away square for four. Time was when Broad would have bristled at the insult and pulled his length back, but instead he sent the next ball up to the very same place. Campbell tried to drive again and this time he edged the ball behind.
Since Broad remodelled his game in the winter of 2018 he has been bowling this fuller length. In the two years since, he’s taken 93 wickets at 25, and 43 of them have been either bowled or lbw. Over the two years previous to it, he took 78 at 30, and only 23 of them were bowled or lbw. Sky calculated that his average length is around 50cm fuller now than it was five years ago. It’s one of the lessons he learned from Richard Hadlee, who played with his father Chris at Nottinghamshire, when he asked his help that winter. Hadlee, who grew into a canny old bowler, told him the changes he’d made had added six years to his career.
Broad said back then he was hoping they will do the same for him. Which means he thinks he has four more to go, if he can get out of his senior partner’s shadow. Judging by the way he handled being left out, and the way he played here, he’s certainly got the hunger for it. He hasn’t changed everything about his game, by the way. He still tends to charge down the pitch celebrating his wickets before he’s appealed for them. Some habits are hard to kick.