NASSER HUSSAIN: Stuart Broad was born for Ashes cricket – it’s fitting that he took his 600th wicket against Australia with Jimmy Anderson faltering

It was fitting that Stuart Broad got to 600 career Test wickets against Australia because like his dad Chris he was born for Ashes cricket.

There is something about playing against Australia that brings out the best in him. These are the games in which you see how much heart he has. He always wants to be in a battle. Some people go missing in Ashes series. Like his father, one of the heroes of the 1986-87 win down under, he never has.

And if it wasn’t for the bowler that has been operating at the other end for the majority of his career, we’d be raving about him even more.

At times he has lived in Jimmy Anderson’s shadow but it’s been nice when Jimmy has not been around – like the Trent Bridge Test of 2015 when he took eight for 15 – or in a series like this one where Jimmy has not been at his best, to see Stuart step up.

That’s something he’s always done. Some fast bowlers are highly-skilled geniuses. Think of someone like Dale Steyn. Others have longevity, but rarely do you get bowlers who are so skilful, and possess so much drive to want to perform on the big stage, especially in the Ashes.

Stuart Broad took his 600th Test wicket on Wednesday at Old Trafford as he dismissed Australia’s Travis Head

Broad has been England’s star performer with the ball and has consistently stepped up in big matches

It is a series in which you have to pick people that really want to be with you in that cauldron, under that pressure and within that theatre.

He is one of those and it’s why he went past Ian Botham as England’s leading wicket taker against Australia.

Here is a cricketer born to play Ashes cricket because of the sense of occasion it provides.

As a captain you know that even if it’s not this bloke’s day, he is going to be there for you and he’ll be there for you again next day. It’s been that way with Broad from the first ball of his first Test 16 years ago and will be until the last ball of the last time he walks off the field as an England player.

But the other thing about him, without being rude about fast bowlers, is that he is very smart.

Every time I’ve interviewed him, the way he thinks about how he’s gonna get people out is fascinating.

For example, we spoke about various cricketers on the eve of this series and he told me that when bowling to Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, he would go slightly wider on the crease and look to hit that ‘fifth stump’, and nip it away. How does he get Labuschagne out in that first game? Exactly that way.

In fact, whenever I have interviewed him about his spells, I have learned so much about the art of bowling.

Broad also overtook England all-rounder Ian Botham as the highest wicket-taker against Australia

Only Jimmy Anderson (left) has more wickets for England and is also the only fast bowler in history with a higher tally 

He wasn’t bowling well over the wicket to left handers a few years ago, so he spoke to the then England bowling coach Ottis Gibson and they worked on nipping the ball away together.

He’s constantly trying to evolve and get better, and that’s because he has a great thinking ability.

You talk about Australia’s Smith being a problem solver with the bat, I see the same with Broad with the ball. He see everything as a challenge too. They’re both cricket geeks.

Broad knows all his stats. He will know what he gets left handers out for, right handers, different conditions.

But he has changed his mentality over the years. In days gone by, one of the first things he’d say walking off the field would be the amount of runs he had gone for.

Under the Ben Stokes regime, though, the first thing he talks about is how many wickets he got.

At times captains have had to convince him to bowl fuller, at others captains have used wrongly as the enforcer, banging the ball in halfway down the pitch, which I thought was ludicrous for such a highly skilled bowler.

You wouldn’t ask Anderson to turn up and bowl bouncers all the time, so why ask him?

For me, Broad is in a rare fast bowling category as someone that ticks every box.

I was very vocal when along with Anderson he wasn’t picked for the West Indies tour last year.

That was hugely disrespectful to two of our all-time great bowlers, and no way to treat players of that stature. Not just for their statistics, either.

England’s great opening bowlers were left out of a tour of the West Indies in early 2022

You forget the physical side of bowling. Batting is mental and you have to go through the ups and downs and form and bad luck and bad decisions, but for Broad and bowlers like him it is about getting out of bed on mornings like today, strapping those boots on again and coming back for that last spell.

In fact, I saw him and Stokes run at each other after tea on day one and it was like two old men running towards each other. They were so stiff. They couldn’t move. It took about five minutes for them to get together to have a chat. Those are the physical exertions of Test cricket for you.

Fast bowling is hard work. It’s not just the 600 victims. You forget all the fitness and technical work Broad has done behind the scenes – keeping his body robust, working on his wrist position, re-training to swing the ball again.

And it is all this stuff great players do behind the scenes that makes them so good. The constant desire to improve, to identify areas which are lacking and the raising of the bar that allows the very best to reach the heights Broad did on Wednesday.