The amount of negative press that Stuart Broad has been given, it was bound to come back to haunt Australia and after day one of the first test in Brisbane it certainly has.

Labelled by the Courier Mail, Brisbane’s local paper, as Stuart Fraud and banned the use of his name for the rest of the paper. It was “Fraud” who removed Rogers in his second over leaving the Aussies 12-1 and it wasn’t to get any better for the enemy down under who ended the first day on 273-8.

It was not just the local press that were all to happy to lay into Broad, as fans at the ground booing him whenever his named was called out or when he touched the ball in the field.

Both Alistair Cook and Andy Flowers will no doubt be relieved to see Broad respond so positively. As the English pace-men said himself “It was nice to come away with picking up some wickets as it was one of those days where you could doubt yourself and walk away with 0-100 after getting abused all day so it feels better to have a five-fer.”

Broad, however, is an experienced enough player to get through it, in what is only the first day of what will probably prove to be one of the tougher series of his career. He has had the perfect start, but it will be interesting to see how he responds when things get tougher. Will this be the true making of him?

Alex Ewing

Image courtesy of thedailytouch.com