Box-office Broad steps out of Anderson's shadow to finally bag the lead role

Stuart Broad loves to talk. Sometimes he goes a bit over the top. An example was him writing off England's disastrous 2021 Ashes as "void". The Aussies have many reasons to dislike him. He infamously didn't walk after edging the ball in the 2013 Ashes in Trent Bridge and went on to defend it later. 

After getting dropped from the team after the tour of Caribbean last year, he didn't hide his feelings, saying the phone call to tell him that he had been dropped left him angry and confused.

In April, he said he had developed a revamped outswinger especially designed for Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith, two of Australia's stalwarts. 

It all sounded like trash talk to the Australia fans before he got Labuschagne and Smith in a space of 12 balls in the Ashes opener in Edgbaston. The dismissal of Smith was one he would remember for a long time. It swung in and shaped away, making a maestro like Smith stuck and confused. It was probably that secret weapon. 

Broad got Smith again, this time in the third Test with a delivery moving in. He removed Labuschagne in both innings in Edgbaston but the latter avoided getting out to Broad for the rest of the series, at least when he was bowling. 

Fresh off a match-saving hundred, Labuschagne was in the middle of a blockathon. Everyone, including Broad, knows how focused he is as a batter and as an individual. So he decided to take a chance and cause a lapse in his concentration. 

Broad must have remembered how Nathan Lyon switched bails and Joe Root and Rory Burns got out soon after that in the 2019 Ashes. "I've heard - and I might have made this up - that it's like an Aussie change of luck thing. I feel like I've seen Nathan Lyon do it," Broad said in the press conference after the end of the day's play.

And it worked. Labuschagne edged the ball to Root at slip off Mark Wood and England were able to break a slow and frustrating stand of 42 off 26 overs. 

After lunch, Broad bowled a superb spell that cracked the game wide open. He got the patient Usman Khawaja with a full and straight delivery and the aggressive Travis Head with one that nipped away a touch. Suddenly, from 91 for one, Australia were in trouble at 127 for four.

The wicket of Head was Broad's 65th since his recall after Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over. Broad has been England's highest wicket-taker in the "Bazball" era. His 65 wickets came at an average of 26.5. He has 15 more wickets than his long-time bowling partner James Anderson during that period. No fast bowler has taken more wickets than Broad since the recall.

Broad, though, has always been overshadowed by the craftier Anderson. The latter has achieved more as well, becoming the first bowler to take 600 Test wickets (and probably will be the first to 700). It has always been Anderson-Broad, never Broad-Anderson. 

But Broad himself has created his own legacy. He has already reached the milestone of 600 Test wickets and is showing no signs of stopping. He is currently the leading wicket-taker (20) of the Ashes 2023.

But with the influx of bowlers like Ollie Robinson, Olly Stone, Josh Tongue and Matthew Potts, Broad will have to fight for his place in the side despite how good he has been. But for someone like Broad who is always eager to prove a point, it's a challenge he will love. 

Anderson has been below average in the Ashes so far. Australia have always been his nemesis. But Broad has enjoyed it against the arch-rivals and Khawaja's wicket was his 150th against them, the most for an England bowler against Australia. 

It seems, after all these years, Stuart Broad has emerged as the lead character and is no longer Anderson's sidekick. In a series where Anderson has struggled big time, Broad made an impact even when he was not bowling. 

Wood forced an error from Labuschagne, Root took a screamer at slip but it was Broad's mind game that took the spotlight. And even before the umpire raised his finger, he knew he had his 150th Ashes wicket. 

The celebrappeal was the most Broad way possible to reach such a massive milestone. He made the Oval crowd erupt even before Khawaja was officially out. Very few can rile up the crowd in England like Broad. The chant "Broadie's gonna get ya" is so infectious that even his bunny David Warner, whom it is directed at, took a liking to it. 

Woakes was England's highest wicket-taker in Australia's first innings. Wood unsettled Australia with his extra pace. Root got two important breakthroughs and grabbed a stunner. But it was Stuart Broad (often called "Ashes villain no. 1" in Australia) who finally got to play the hero's role after years of playing a supporting character.