Cricket / Andrew Hughes / 01 August 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

Stuart Broad is a likeable character off the field and one of England's brightest fast bowling prospects. But are his on-field misdemeanours a potential problem? Andrew Hughes looks at the good and the bad of last year's Ashes hero.

Stuart Broad made his Test debut in 2007 and has since established himself as England's premier fast bowler. His performance at the Oval last year was the pinnacle of his career so far and showed him at his best, bowling a nagging length and extracting awkward bounce from his six foot five inch frame. Currently [3.45] to win the Ashes rematch this winter, Broad is essential to England's chances.

Off the field, he is modest, quietly spoken and though he would undoubtedly prefer to open the bowling and to be allowed to operate in a Glenn McGrath mode, he has not complained when asked to perform different roles and appears to be an exemplary team player. Yet there is a side to Broad that is not so positive and that threatens to detract from his enormous talent.

Although his international career is less than four-years-old, he has been regularly involved in on-field misdemeanours and indiscretions. He has all too often made the mistake of appealing and celebrating a wicket without looking at the umpire, most recently this spring in Chittagong. He apologised at the time and the incident was downplayed by the England management, a recurring theme in Broad's career so far.

Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have taken it in turns to defend him, but it is far from clear that this is helping the young bowler. He clearly has a short-fuse and has demonstrated a tendency towards petulance. In the Caribbean last year he protested after being called for a wide and had to be calmed down by his captain. There were similar remonstrations with umpires in Centurion last winter and an inordinate delay in leaving the field when given out in Johannesburg.

Then there are the incidents of what appear to be sharp practice, such as his peculiar finger pointing routine when bowling during the World Twenty20 last summer, or his standing on the ball during the Cape Town Test this winter. He is also not averse to balling out his team-mates, something which finally, belatedly, caused Andy Flower to fire a warning shot across his bows ahead of the World Twenty20 Final this spring.

The consistent line from the England management is that he is an aggressive competitor and they don't want to take that away from him. As a youngster, his aggressive nature helped him to deal with the sadly inevitable abuse meted out to the son of a former Test player, particularly during a spell in Australian grade cricket. But he is now one of the senior pros and must surely take his responsibility to keep his cool on field more seriously.

If greater efforts are not made to restrain him, it is surely only a matter of time before he finds himself landed with a ban. Some have alleged, irresponsibly, that the fact his father is now a match referee means he gets preferential treatment. There is no evidence for this. But he could do worse than look at his father's own Test career for lessons. Chris Broad was a fine opener, but two incidents; his refusal to leave the crease when given out at Lahore in 1987 and his demolishing of his own stumps in the Bicentennial Test in 1988 arguably contributed to a foreshortened Test career.

All of which demonstrates that if you gain a reputation as a troublemaker, it can prove toxic to your international future. The ICC Code of Conduct is getting stricter all the time and there are totting up procedures, meaning that previous misdemeanours can count against you. The last thing England need as they try to climb the Test rankings is for their most reliable fast bowler to spend significant time on the sidelines through ill-discipline.