‘It is designed for Marnus and Smith’ - Broad on his new outswinger

Despite picking over 900 First-Class wickets, Stuart Broad isn’t content with the tools that he has at his disposal. Over the last few days, the right-arm seamer has primarily swung the ball into the stumps but was seen uprooting Cameron Bancroft’s stumps with an out-swinger. 

Broad reckoned that he is working hard with the team’s bowling coach, Kevin Shine, in order to get a smoother flow into his release. With Ashes looming large, the 36-year-old gave a stern warning to Australia’s top guns - Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith - that the out-swinging delivery has been designed for them. 

"It's designed, to be honest, for Marnus [Labuschagne] and [Steve] Smith," Stuart Broad said. "It's the reason I wanted to change something, to try and bring their outside edge in more.

The 36-year-old also talked about his ‘stock’ delivery which is the wobble seam, terming it as the most dangerous ball. But with the new tweak in his action, the ball has started swinging away from the right-handers, a tool that he has never possessed before this. 

"My stock delivery will always be wobble seam trying to nip back on off stump, because I think that's the most dangerous ball. But to those guys, I think dragging them across with away swing is important. So this action tweak is pretty much designed at those two, and it was good to see it really swinging away today."

Broad is set to play two more clashes for Notts before heading to the camp for the Ireland tour. Talking about his own workload, the right-arm seamer reckoned that ‘four’ is an ideal number, and it will be impossible for any bowler to play six games in seven weeks. 

"Four feels like a good number," Broad said, "to try and make a good impact for Notts but also to get workloads where I want them to be. I wanted to backload quite a few overs in this period because of the Ashes.

"No bowler's going to play six games in seven weeks. I want to be able to have that workload to fall back on that if I miss two weeks Test cricket, say, or three weeks, when I get my chance I'm good to go."