England may come into the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham on the back of a crushing win in the series opener, but according to Stuart Broad the host is yet to hit top form.
Propelled by a hundred from Jonny Bairstow and match figures of 10 for 45 from James Anderson, England thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings and 88 runs in the first Test at Headingley last week to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
But Broad, still the world’s number one ranked Test bowler, said there was no danger of England letting up when the second Test starts at north-east county Durham’s Riverside headquarters on Friday
“Obviously the series is still up for grabs and I think one thing we’ve probably been average at is in the last Test of the series when we’ve won, I’m thinking Centurion and the Oval,” he added of a defeat by South Africa earlier this year and last year’s Ashes-ending reverse against Australia.
“With a Test series up for grabs we’re on it and our aim is to have all nine Test trophies and we can make it eight this week,” he added yesterday.
“I think Australia and South Africa have done it before.
It is not something that has been done a huge amount, so it would be a huge achievement and we’re desperate to do that.
“It wasn’t the perfect performance at Headingley — we dropped catches and we didn’t bat as well as we’d want to (England were 83 for five before Bairstow’s rescue mission) so there are improvements we can make this week.”
England will have to make at least one change after Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes was ruled out of playing on his home ground with a knee injury suffered at Headingley.
Warwickshire’s Chris Woakes, a like for like replacement, was called into the England squad on Monday and promptly took a career-best nine for 36 against Durham at Edgbaston.
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