Broad chomping at the bit to bowl at Black Caps' Taylor

He may not open for England in the first Test but no matter what Stuart Broad believes he should be bowling at New Zealand's Ross Taylor.

Published : Mar 20, 2018 02:21 IST

Stuart Broad is not concerned about potentially moving to first-change for England as he looks to continue his excellent record against New Zealand's Ross Taylor.

In last week's warm-up in Hamilton, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood were handed new-ball duties alongside regular opener James Anderson.

England are yet to make a final decision over who will partner Anderson in the first Test, a day-night affair, starting in Auckland on Thursday, but Broad - who needs one more wicket for 400 in the longest form of the game - is focusing on targeting the Black Caps' senior batsman.

Broad has removed Taylor nine times in Tests - only Michael Clarke (11) and AB de Villiers (10) have been dismissed more often - and the 31-year-old is hoping to be England's match-winner regardless of when he comes on to bowl.

"I've spoken to Trev [Bayliss] and certainly no decision has been made for Thursday," Broad said.

"What the thinking over the past few weeks has been is since South Africa 2016 our away form has been average. I don't think that's just the bowling, we need to strive for improvement in pretty much all departments.

"Is there a way we can elongate pressure and be on the money for two hours in a session back-to-back through a Test-match day?

"I want to be the person who you turn to when you need something exciting to happen - let's try and break this Test match open.

"That's how I’ve played my cricket and [it] actually influenced some of the changes I made in February. I felt I got too technical, constantly every day looking at videos and what's going on with my action.

"My record against Ross Taylor is very good - I think I've got him nine times in Test cricket. I should be bowling his first 30 balls.

"It's that sort of thinking that's coming into the bowling group rather than just thinking these two blokes have to take the same new ball. We're going to try and be a bit more flexible."

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