'This bloke pops up on my TV screen' - Stuart Broad giving David Warner sleepless nights ahead of Ashes 2021-22

David Warner, the Australian batsman, is wary of facing England’s Stuart Broad going into the 2021-22 edition of the Ashes. In Test cricket, the left-hander has found the Brits’ fast bowler a tough nut to crack more often than not. In 23 Tests, the 34-year-old southpaw has got out to Broad on 12 instances, the most against any bowler he faced in the purest format.

Broad is currently in London, playing England’s opening Test against New Zealand at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground. In the first day’s play, he couldn’t pick up a wicket. The New South Wales-born Warner is following the game and is mentally preparing himself to face Broad in the Ashes.

He took to Twitter and wrote, “Trying to get some sleep here in Aus but this bloke pops up on my tv screen!! Few months to get some sleep before the Ashes down under.”

David Warner’s tweet

The Ashes Down Under is set to get underway on Wednesday, December 8 at The Gabba in Brisbane. Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth are the venues for the other four Test matches.

In the 2019 Ashes, Broad accounted for Warner’s wicket as many as seven times in 104 balls. Warner had a torrid time in the five-match series as he managed only 95 runs at a disastrous average of 9.50. Regarding his dominance over Warner, Broad had said that doing research helped him to a large extent.

“I got lucky, in the sense that it was a really good summer to bowl with a brand-new ball in England. It had that dryness of pitches – probably due to the World Cup – that just nipped off the seam. I was fresh, I was buzzing, I was excited because it was my first international cricket of the summer – for guys who had played in the World Cup, it was maybe a different story,” Broad had said.

“I had a lot of time to do research while the World Cup was going on. I’ve always found [Warner] a very difficult batsman to bowl at, particularly in the third innings when you’re tired: he’s very good at punishing shorter bowling and width,” he added.