Stuart Broad has said that he “didn’t enjoy” his time under Andrew Strauss’s captaincy, despite England rising to the No.1 ranked Test side in the world under the latter’s tenure.

Speaking on the Up Front With Simon Jordan podcast, Broad opened up on playing under Andrew Strauss and elaborated on his feelings when he and James Anderson were controversially dropped by Strauss after the 2021/22 Ashes series defeat. Following the decision, Broad wrote in his Daily Mail column that he was “waking up more confused and angrier each day” after being left out of the tour of the West Indies.

“I have no regrets about saying how I felt in my Daily Mail article,” Broad said in his interview. “Because ultimately I was pi***d off that I felt my England career had been finished by someone who didn’t have any right to make that decision. It was a statement decision to drop me and James Anderson.

“The bit that upset me was that I only got a five-minute phone call after 16 years of service, and I was replaced by players that weren’t better than me. My red mist came from thinking – who is an interim director of cricket, that isn’t going to be in the job in a month’s time, to drop me and Jimmy? I was at the stage where I thought my England career was over, so I didn’t care what I wrote.

“If Andrew Strauss had been in the job for a couple of years and had seen things not working, then I would’ve been more okay with being dropped. He knew he was only in the job for three weeks and he made a massive call to make it seem like he was doing something, but it was the wrong call.”

England lost the three-match Test tour in the Caribbean 0-1 after they were beaten in the final match by ten wickets. Both Broad and Anderson were recalled when Ben Stokes took over the captaincy that summer for the following New Zealand series.

Broad also spoke about his time under Strauss’s captaincy as a whole. Strauss was England Test captain from 2008 to 2012, a period when England won two Ashes series, including the 2010/11 tour down under as well as ascended to the No.1 Test ranked side in the world. Broad played 38 Test matches under Strauss, in which he took 140 wickets including six five-fors.

“I don’t think I enjoyed my time under Strauss as much as other times in my career,” said Broad. “I like having the freedom to try and take wickets and if it costs you a few runs it doesn’t matter. We were very successful, but his way of playing really hurt players like Steven Finn – who had amazing attributes but would bowl the odd bad ball so he wouldn’t play. If Steven Finn was 23 now, in Ben Stokes’ environment, he would play all the time.

“Although he took us to number one in the world, it just had a very different feeling. It was more ‘this is how we’re going to do things as a group’. He was stating numbers like going under 2.7 an over, and if you don’t go under 2.7 you won’t play. You had to fit into his way of bowling and batting and deliver results. He did back me as a player and I still did well, but it was a very different style.”

Broad retired from Test cricket after the 2023 Ashes series. He finished his career with 604 Test wickets; among fast bowlers, only Anderson has more.

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