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Chris Broad was always a man who knew his own mind. He effectively told
the England selectors he should be in their thoughts when he made a very
public move from Gloucs. to Notts. in 1984, saying that Test selectors
would never come and look at him in Bristol. They did come to Trent
Bridge and apparently agreed with Broad's own assessment of his ability.
He was chosen for Mike Gatting's tour of Australia in 1985-86, to some
scepticism, but he soon wiped cynical smiles from the critics faces with
three Test centuries on the trot: 162 in Perth, 116 at Adelaide and 112
in the Ashes-winning innings victory at Melbourne. He was an unlikely
looking Test batsman, very wooden and stiff in his left-handed stance.
"He looks almost as if he is sitting on a high stool, " said former
England captain Tony Lewis. "His bottom is stuck out, his back rigid but
when he plays the ball he plays fluently enough, lets the ball come
onto the bat, plays some very firm dabbing shots on the on side in front
of square and then stretches forward to play his off-drive."
He played
against Pakistan in 1987 and then got 116 in Faisalabad in the winter in
the match notorious for the blow-up between skipper Gatting and Umpire
Shakhoor Rana. At Christchurch later that winter he made 117 v New
Zealand. Chris scored 54 and 16 in the opening match of the series
against the West Indies in 1988 but he was then ridiclously dropped
after scoring 0 and 1 in the next Test. Although he returned for the
first two Tests against the Australians in 1989 he no doubt still felt a
sense of injustice which led him to join the rebel tour of South Africa
that winter. That ended his Test career with a record of 1661 runs from
his 25 matches, averaging just shy of 40. He was part of England's
World Cup squad in 1987, but after a few unsuccessful matches he lost
his place to his Nottinghamshire partner Tim Robinson. (Bob Harragan)
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