Stokes reveals McCullum's aggressive batting strategy after the win at Lord's

England have won a very topsy turvy game of Test cricket against New Zealand on Sunday at Lord's that seemed to fall into either side’s pockets at different times in the game. After the win, the England captain Ben Stokes said that Brendon McCullum, their new head coach was ready to send Stuart Broad to bat at number eight, had they lost a wicket at the end of day 3.

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Broad, who has had an illustrious career in Test cricket as a bowler, has also come good with the bat on many occasions. With one century and 13 half-centuries, Broad has been a very good lower-order option in the English Test side. His recent numbers, however, show a disappointing trend, having scored just 86 runs in the last 17 innings, with a forgetful average of 7.81.

Stokes, however, revealed that Baz was all set to send Broad to the crease had either one of Joe Root or Ben Foakes lost their wicket.

“Last night, when Foakesy went out to bat, he was going to send Broady in if we’d lost a wicket to go and have a slog just to score 30-40 runs, the game’s done. That’s the kind of stuff that we are not used to in the dressing room. Those kinds of things will do us the world of good. Just those tiny little things, the confidence, the energy that he brings about his mindset towards the game,” Stokes said during a post-match press conference.

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Seeing the funny side of it, Stokes said,

“If Broady walked out last night, and went off and flayed 20 or 30, pretty sure, you guys would have been like, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ That’s what he’s going to do. He’s just going to make everyone feel 10 foot taller in any situation that we’re in and I’ve really enjoyed working with him so far.”

The second Test between England and New Zealand starts on June 10 in Trent Bridge.