Modest Broad unwilling to buy into 'best bowler' hype

Stuart Broad has vaulted to a place only two other Englishmen have gone before. Only Ian Botham (in 1980) and Steve Harmison (in 2004) have ever scaled to the top of ICC's Test bowling rankings before Broad became the third England bowler to achieve the feat following a devastating display of swing bowling in Johannesburg. The 29-year-old, who bowled England to a series win in South Africa, is delighted with his ranking but said he would rather have England be the top Test team.

"It (No.1 ranking) is not something to take for granted and it is a very special thing to have happened," Broad said on Monday (January 18). "When you consider that only Beefy in the 1980s and Harmy in 2004 have been No. 1 as English bowlers, it is a lovely achievement. However, it is not the end-goal and it doesn't feel like the biggest thing right now because there is so much more going on with the team. I'm not being aloof or disrespectful, but there is such a determination in the side to get this team to No. 1."

Despite having scaled the rankings table, Broad doesn't buy into the argument that he is the best bowler in the world. That accolade, he believes, must go to South African pacer Dale Steyn. While injuries have limited Steyn's participation to just a handful of overs in the first Test, Broad believes the South African quick has been the bowler of the generation.

"It might sound odd, but I'm not the best bowler in the world. Dale Steyn is the bowler of our generation. Just have a look at his record, his wickets, his strike-rate, his average. My dad always talks about Malcolm Marshall being the bowler of his generation. Well, Steyn is the bowler of our generation. I'm not going to walk away from this week thinking I'm a better bowler than Steyn or Jimmy Anderson because that is not the case," Broad opined.

Waxing lyrical on his new-ball partner Anderson, Broad said: "We're very fortunate to have played the amount of cricket we have together. We suit each other's style of bowling. We can be grumpy with each other, we can congratulate each other, but there is never a battle between us to get wickets. It is very much 'let's get these ten wickets and get off the field, how are we going to do that? Shall we swing it, shall we wobble it?'

"People talk about cricket being an individual game but I really don't agree with that, everything is done in a partnership. When Rooty (Joe Root) and Stokesy (Ben Stokes) are batting together, Stokesy will get a bad ball because Rooty has seen off three good ones. Jimmy and I are the same, and generally the guy at the other end who is not getting the wickets is the one who is building the pressure and maybe even bowling better. When I took 7 for 40-odd against New Zealand, Jimmy bowled like a dream and I just picked up the wickets."

Despite being one of the top performers in the Test circuit in the past 12 months, Broad hasn't played limited-overs cricket for England since the 2015 World Cup, something he wishes to remedy at the earliest. Liam Plunkett got the nod for the limited-overs leg of the South Africa tour following Steven Finn's withdrawal but Broad is willing to bide his time. The World T20 in India and the 50-over World Cup at home in 2019 remain big targets.

"I'm desperate to play white-ball cricket again for England. You have a short career and I'm not going to play until I'm 37 or 38, so I want to play as much cricket as I possibly can," he said. "I'm as fresh as I've ever been, the knee surgery [in the autumn of 2014] was the best decision I've ever made, and I'm loving my cricket. The coach puts all the emphasis on the players, the atmosphere in the changing room is all about entertainment and that suits my style of playing. It is all about changing the momentum of games.

"There is a lot of important white-ball cricket coming England's way with the World T20, the Champions Trophy and then the 2019 World Cup, which I want to be involved with. The dream of mine is to play in that World Cup and win it at home. That would be epic."