Ian Waller and venue full of cricket fans enjoy an evening of stories from one of England’s best ever bowlers
Stuart Broad was in town – at The Forum Bath, to be exact – and that meant a full house of cricket fans eager to listen to one of England’s best ever look back at a stellar career.
An Evening With Stuart Broad allowed the great man to take us back through his 17 year international career, taking in his classic bowling partnership with Jimmy Anderson, battles with the Aussies, his dominance of a certain David Warner, Ashes successes, getting hit in the face by a Varun Aaron bouncer and those six sixes in an over from Yurav Singh.
The thing that strikes you about Stuart Broad is that he’s the sort of bloke that you would love to sit in a pub with and just talk cricket. He comes across at instantly affable with a talent for stories and knowing what his audience wants. He’s also the sort of character that you desperately want in your team – driven, dedicated and determined to win.
Take that example when he clearly edged an Ashton Agar ball to the Aussie slips and refused to walk. He simple response was that the umpire had got it wrong so why should be walk? He then set about preparing for the inevitable sledging from the Aussie crowd by conducting the abuse like an orchestra and letting it be known – falsely – that he actually owned the company selling the shirts being worn by his abusers to show their displeasure at his actions, meaning he was earning from their insults.
Broad is, of course, one of the few bowlers ever to take 600 test wickets… 600!!! That is just phenomenal and the annoying thing is he still looks young enough and fit enough to be out there doing it still.
Across the evening, an enthusiastic audience were greeted to video comments from the likes of Jimmy Anderson and highlights of Broad’s careers, greeting the clips of him hitting his last ever test match ball for six and taking a wicket with his last ever delivery with a level of applause and cheers as if they were at The Oval watching it live!
Cricket throws up a fair few heroes but the great thing about Stuart Broad is that he comes across as one of the fans too, a bloke passion about the game and a real desire to win, but who is also friends with his rivals when he’s on the other side of the boundary. The result is another hugely enjoyable night out at The Forum Bath.
For details of more upcoming events at The Forum Bath, go to www.bathforum.co.uk/