Broad’s no-ball proves to be costly

Stuart Broad apologised to his England team-mates for the no-ball that cost him the wicket of Shoaib Malik on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan.

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Abu Dhabi – Stuart Broad last night revealed that he apologised to his England team-mates for the “unacceptable” no-ball that cost him the wicket of Shoaib Malik on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan here.

Broad should have removed Shoaib on 40 shortly after lunch when he had him caught by Joe Root at gully. But the Pakistan batsman was given a reprieve when replays showed that Broad had overstepped in his delivery stride. Shoaib went on to reach stumps unbeaten on 124.

It was one of three missed opportunities for England in the field, Ian Bell also dropping Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq, that helped Pakistan post 286 for 4 on day one and take control of the Test match.

Broad, though, knows his mistake was particularly costly and held up his hands in the dressing room during the tea interval. “We all know, having played a little bit of cricket over here, you can't afford to have to try to take 26 or 27 wickets - you need to just have to take your 20 to win a Test match,” he said. “I can't think of many occasions I've had one chalked off. I'm not really a big no-ball bowler. But there's no real excuses for it. I said sorry at tea to the guys.

“I have to hold my hand up for that no-ball, which is unacceptable - certainly in these conditions.”

England will be particularly frustrated by the fact this is the sixth time this year they have been denied a wicket in Tests by bowlers overstepping. And Broad's potential solution to the problem is to invite umpires to oversee the team's practice sessions.

“It's something we definitely need to improve on,” he said. “We're pretty strict in practice with our no-ball bowling. One thing we could maybe bring in is making sure we have an umpire for every training session - I don't know if that's logistically possible.” – The Independent