I won't hold back - Broad

Stuart Broad, right, will be hoping his reprimand for ‘throwing the ball inappropriately’ was a one-off, although he insists he will not be reining himself in too much in the coming matches

Stuart Broad knows he must never lose the fire in his belly which makes him such a feared presence in England’s pace attack.

Broad had his first significant brush with officialdom when he was fined half of his match fee after throwing a dead ball back at Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman Zulqarnain Haider during this month’s second npower Test victory at Edgbaston.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of ‘throwing the ball inappropriately’, but feels he has moved on from an incident which unsurprisingly exercised the attentions of International Cricket Council match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

England have since lost the third Test at the Brit Insurance Oval and therefore head to Lord’s for the final match of four this week only 2-1 up.

Broad admits to an occasionally excitable on-field persona, but the 24-year-old is well aware there are wickets to be had through controlled aggression.

“You have to have a part of you like that as a bowler - that fire in you to keep going,” he said. “I love having those battles. I am certainly not going to rein back too much.

“It is important as a bowler that you always need to have a presence. If you lose that you lose quite a bit, a big part of your armoury.

“It comes naturally with me, and at times it is a huge advantage. I don’t want to lose it - I want to keep getting wickets.”

Broad, speaking today during a break from promotional filming for sports goods manufacturers adidas, explained too that he quickly spoke to Haider - and the Pakistan debutant accepted that the ball was aimed not at him but back to England wicketkeeper Matt Prior, at the end of an over.

“It was certainly not deliberately aimed at him. It was a throw to our wicketkeeper, which went slightly awry,” he added.

“I accepted the punishment that was put on the table, and have moved on from that.

Broad enjoyed a return to form with the bat in the third Test and hailed team-mate Matt Prior, saying: "He is a real asset to us"

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“There are no hard feelings between the teams. I spoke to the wicketkeeper afterwards, and he knew I was not aiming at him.

“He heard the shout from our wicketkeeper, but it hit him instead.”

Haider subsequently missed the next Test because of a finger injury on the same hand with which he defended himself from Broad’s errant throw.

It is mention of England’s wicketkeeper Prior which leads Broad on to another topic entirely - his enthusiasm for England’s prospects at Lord’s and beyond into this winter’s Ashes.

Prior averages more than 60 in Tests this summer, including a century, and shared an eighth-wicket stand of 119 as Broad rediscovered his batting touch in the first innings at the Oval.

“With Matt Prior in there, that is a huge strength for us,” he said. “If he was not a wicketkeeper he would be in the side as a batsman.

“He is a fantastic strokemaker and a real asset for us, someone who could make a big difference in Australia. We are very lucky to have a player like that coming in at number seven.”

In the more immediate future, Broad accepts England face a significant test of their resolve to reassert their supremacy over Pakistan at Lord’s.

“We were disappointed with our performance at the Oval - although we fought fantastically hard with the ball, making it a pressure scenario at the end.

“We need to refocus at Lord’s. But we’re still 2-1 up in the series, going into the final game.

“We need a strong performance at Lord’s. But it is a fantastic ground to play on, and we’ve had plenty of success there in the past.”

Broad is happy to give the tourists some credit, but insists England have it in their power to restore order.

“Pakistan played some really good cricket at the Oval,” he said. “But we started the series excellently, in every part of the game.

“We bowled with great skill and had some brilliant knocks from our batsmen. We played some good cricket again at the Oval. But in two sessions we also lost 14 wickets for 120 runs - you’re not going to win Test matches like that.

“We need to address that, and I’m sure everyone will be very determined to make sure we do that this week.”