Stuart Broad one of England's best ever, says Mick Newell

Stuart Broad is one of the five best Test bowlers in England's history, says Nottinghamshire director of cricket and national selector Mick Newell.

The Notts seamer, 29, took 6-17 in the second innings of the series-clinching third Test win in South Africa.

He has taken 330 wickets in 90 Tests, and is top of the International Cricket Council's Test bowling rankings.

"It's not just in the number of wickets he's taken, but in terms of match-winning performances," said Newell.

"I think to become number one Test bowler in the world, as he's now achieved this weekend, is a fantastic thing for Stuart.

"He has these runs of great form and Saturday was one of those examples.

"I think if you're looking at English Test bowlers since the history of the game he's got to be in the top five now."

The fourth and final Test against South Africa begins at Centurion on Friday, with England set to be without fellow fast bowler Steven Finn because of a side strain.

I think it's an obvious statement to make that Broad is in the top 5 English fast bowlers and his stats alone say that.

My personal favourite will always be Botham but I think that's because of his persona on and off the pitch but everyone will have their own opinions on that debate.

Broad has been brilliant, no doubt, but he doesn't crack my top 5. I'd take Barnes, Trueman, Underwood, Larwood and Laker ahead of him. Maybe Bob Willis, also.

I posted these numbers in the other Stuart Broad thread , but they are worth re-posting here as they pertain to the comparison's between Broad and Anderson. 

Overall numbers:

Anderson: 3.83 wickets per Test at an average of 29.13 and a strike-rate of 58.0.
Broad: 3.66 wickets per Test at an average of 28.54 and a strike-rate of 56.4.

Anderson has 18 5-wicket hauls and 2 10-wicket hauls. Broad has 15 5-wicket hauls and 2 10-wicket hauls. Broad, however, has a better ratio of 5-wicket hauls per Test as Anderson has appeared in 22 more Test matches (6 vs 6.22).

Numbers in home Test matches:

Anderson: 4.22 wickets per Test at an average of 26.80 and a strike-rate of 53.6.
Broad: 4.14 wickets per Test at an average of 26.52 and a strike-rate of 50.9

Anderson has 14 5-wicket hauls and 2 10-wicket hauls. Broad has 11 5-wicket hauls and 2 10-wicket hauls. Anderson has a marginally better ratio of 5-wicket hauls per Test at home (4.5 vs 4.54).

Numbers in overseas Test matches:

Anderson: 3.27 wickets per Test at an average of 34.87 and a strike-rate of 66.1. 
Broad: 3.02 wickets per Test at an average of 33.71 and a strike-rate of 66.3.

Anderson and Broad have both taken 5-wickets in an innings four times in overseas Tests. As Broad has played 9 fewer Tests, his ratio of 5-wicket hauls per Test is the better of the two.

Broad also has the better numbers against Australia.

Numbers versus Australia:

Anderson: 87 wickets in 26 matches at an average of 35.87 with 4 5-wicket hauls.
Broad: 84 wickets in 22 matches at an average of 27.69 with 6 5-wicket hauls.

One thing that should also not be discounted in the numbers, as the senior bowler, Jimmy always gets the pick of the ends to bowl at, this is a pretty big advantage.

The overall numbers are very similar, though Anderson just edges out Broady. Maybe.

Whenever a question gets asked as to regard to who's the best, or who's the greatest then it's always going to 've subjective, and people will always have there own reasons to pick one player out.

Broad is an exceptional cricketer, let's not forget that fact and off statistics alone anybody can see that. Being the best ever though takes more than just numbers though and that's why in itself it's a difficult question to answer.

I am curious, pwarbi, who would be in your top 5 list?

On Saturday, Broad became the 13th bowler to take six wickets in an innings on 10 or more occasions in Tests, and just the fifth seamer, after Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Glenn McGrath.

In his 10 six-fors, Broad has taken his wickets at an average of 7.68, and a strike rate of 16.9, comfortably top of the 13 bowlers on the list (Derek Underwood is second in average [8.53], Imran Khan has the next best strike rate [22.9].)

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