'Still got your ODI cap Jimmy?' - Stuart Broad, James Anderson engage in a funny banter after seven England members test Covid-19 positive

On Tuesday, seven members of the English limited-overs squad tested positive for COVID-19. This meant the whole of the England team had to be quarantined and sidelined into isolation. An alternate squad was announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the ODI series against Pakistan, which starts on July 8 in Cardiff. 

Before the squad was revealed, Twitter witnessed a banter between senior pros James Anderson and Stuart Broad. The conversation started when Broad replied to the tweet by Sky Sports Cricket, which stated that the ECB had asked all the players to go into quarantine. In his tweet, Broad asked Anderson if he has still got his England ODI cap. 

James Anderson played his last ODI in 2015 while Stuart Broad in 2016

After England was knocked out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in the first round, both Anderson and Broad were dropped from the limited-overs squad. The latter returned to the squad briefly in 2016 when he last played an ODI match for England. On the other hand, Anderson never played an ODI and neither received any call-up for the limited-overs squad.

Broad tweeted, “Still got your ODI cap @jimmy9 ?!” To which Anderson replied with a GIF. The GIF which the Lancashire bowler posted is a well-known scene from the American sitcom ‘F.R.I.E.N.D.S’ in which one of the characters stares at the phone, waiting for a call from his lover. The words, “Ring, damn it, ring!” were written as subtitles. 

After this, Broad posted a picture from an old ODI match where he and Anderson played. He wrote in the caption, “It’s still this kit, right?!” Soon after, veteran England cricketer Ravi Bopara was seen posting the same GIF which was posted by Anderson. Unfortunately, neither of the three experienced players received a call-up. Instead, ECB went in with nine uncapped players and other fresh and young players for the 18-man squad, led by Ben Stokes. 

On Monday, Anderson recorded his best first-class figures of 7 for 18 playing for Lancashire against Kent in the County Championship 2021 match. He also crossed the milestone of 1000 first-class wickets. Interestingly, both Broad and Anderson have good ODI numbers. While Broad had taken 178 wickets in 121 matches, Anderson ended his career with 269 wickets from 194 matches.