Stuart Broad, who had supposedly
considered retiring after being rejected for the England side that toured the
West Indies earlier this year, smashed a magnificent 45 runs in only 27 deliveries
for Nottinghamshire against Worcestershire in his opening game of the 2022
County Championship.

Broad lit up Trent Bridge with a
batting assault in his first competitive game since the 2021/22 Ashes. After
Nottinghamshire had crumbled to 184-7 in response to the opponent’s first
innings score of 159, the fast, who had picked up one wicket in Worcestershire’s
first innings, stepped in to bat at No.9 and got rolling with a four off the
13th ball that he faced.

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After
hitting a boundary straight down the ground, Broad took the aerial route and
smashed a leg-side six off Charlie Morris. The fast bowler hit another maximum
five deliveries later, swatting a shorter ball over deep mid-wicket to race
away to 31 in 19 deliveries. He smashed six fours and two sixes in his
27-ball stint at the crease, helping his side to a total of 266 and giving
Nottinghamshire a 107-run advantage.

Broad had expressed his displeasure with the
previous England regime’s tendency to plan for future engagements rather than
focusing on the here-and-now in the aftermath of his five-wicket haul at Sydney
during the Ashes, an issue about which he had been similarly outspoken in a Sky
Sports interview after being dropped for the first Test of the 2020 home
summer.

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Former
England captains have favored all-rounder Ben Stokes for the post of captain
following Joe Root’s resignation, while Broad, 35, has been mentioned as a
short-term replacement. The bowler, England’s second-highest Test wicket-taker after
James Anderson, said he was focused on returning to the England squad after
being dropped for the 1-0 loss to the West Indies.

“I
am aware that my name has been touted as a potential successor to Joe as England
captain and I guess that is because I am an experienced centrally contracted
player who has been around the international game a long time,” he wrote in his
Mail On Sunday column.

“However,
it is not something I have given any thought to because firstly I am not
currently in possession of a shirt within the England Test team and my focus is
very much on changing that by taking wickets for Nottinghamshire over the next
few weeks.”