Broad determined to keep calm in search of Aussie wickets

Stuart Broad has vowed to stay calm in Australia and not let the Aussie sledging affect his bowling.

Broad was fined 50% of his match fee earlier in the year after throwing the ball at Pakistan batsman Zulqarnain Haider during the second Test at Edgbaston this summer, and subsequently lost his form for the remainder of the series.

In the first two Test matches against Pakistan, Broad took nine wickets across the four innings but following his outburst, the England seamer managed just five wickets in the remaining two Test matches.

Any sign of weakness from any England player will be targeted by the Australian team, Kevin Pietersen can testify to that, and Broad knows that he will have to keep his anger under wraps if he is to play an influential role in England’s attempts to retain the Ashes.

Broad is currently 4/1, alongside James Anderson and Steven Finn to be England’s top series wicket-taker.

Just Anderson and Monty Panesar have any experience of the bowling conditions in Australia, and the England bowlers will need to learn quickly to stand a chance of winning.

Broad’s pedigree against the Australians is fairly good, taking 18 wickets in eight innings including two five-wicket hauls in the 2009 Ashes series, and plenty of hopes rest on Broad and Anderson taking the Aussie attack apart.

But the Australians will be well aware of the damage Graeme Swann can do and it’s little surprise that he heads the Ashes betting market at 1/1 to be England’s top series wicket taker.

With just three warm-up games to go before the first Test, Strauss has time for his men to adapt to the bowling conditions that the southern hemisphere throws at them.

England are 9/4 to win the first Ashes Test at Brisbane’s Gabba ground. See the full The Ashes betting odds here.