You get the impression around English cricket at the moment that people have a bit of a downer on Stuart Broad . I have heard the comment ‘ how much longer before Broad comes under pressure for his place ? ’ from a few people in recent times . There should always be scrutiny on England players ’ places , I have no problem with that , but we have to be careful we do not get confused between Broad the bowler and Broad the batsman . Fact is , in the last 14 Tests Broad has taken 63 wickets at 24 apiece which is pretty good considering he ’ s been carrying niggles and injuries . So there has not been much wrong with his bowling even though , as I said on Wednesday , he ’ s not quite at his best following his long lay-off after surgery . Stuart Broad ( right ) was dismissed for a duck in England 's first innings against West Indies in Antigua . Broad will always give you something different even though he can overdo it at times , and has always had the ability to get something out of a flat pitch . I still like the fact that he can turn into the enforcer , as he did before lunch on day three , and that he ’ s a clever bowler , as he showed on the second day when he rolled his fingers down the side of the ball and dismissed Marlon Samuels with a leg-cutter . Broad and Jimmy Anderson are an outstanding combination , taking 526 wickets between them in the 70 Tests they have played together — a record that has seen them stand comparison with the partnership of Sir Ian Botham and Bob Willis . The 28-year-old has seen his place in the side questioned , but he still produces with the ball . Broad celebrates the wicket of Denesh Ramdin on day three of the first Test against West Indies in Antigua . And they complement each other as we saw again on Wednesday when it was flat and there wasn ’ t much happening for Anderson . That ’ s when Broad , with his ability to make things happen , is so crucial for a captain . He has an ability to come up with that magic spell , one that changes the whole course of a match as we have seen him do in big Ashes Tests . He gets under the skin of the Aussies , too , which is never a bad thing . So this downer that I am sensing among the English cricket public clearly comes from the complete demise of Broad the batsman . Not only does he appear to have lost all confidence in his batting but he seems a bit scared , too . Broad said in Australia that he suffered nightmares after being struck in the face by India ’ s Varun Aaron last summer at Old Trafford , which is something I personally would never have done . Broad admitted he had nightmares about being struck in the face by India 's Varun Aaron last summer . Broad can expect to face a barrage of short deliveries from the likes of Mitchell Johnson in the Ashes . Broad scoring a century against Pakistan in 2010 . You can imagine what the Aussies felt when they heard an Englishman saying he was having nightmares about the short ball . No one truly fancies the short stuff but most people do not admit to it publicly . The result is that Broad has become a bit gun-shy , he stays leg-side of the ball and tries to play a shot every delivery . And everybody wants their England cricketers to show a bit of character and fight . It ’ s not going to be easy for Broad . He is going to have Mitchell Johnson steaming in at him this summer bowling yorker , bouncer , and that is probably going to carry on for the rest of his career . He won ’ t be seeing too much spin . That ’ s why Test cricket is the hardest game . There is no place to hide and there ’ s no let up . Broad will have to solve the problem himself and look at team-mates who have overcome adversity in their career like Anderson and Ian Bell . We described Broad as an ‘ all-rounder ’ in a graphic on Sky the other day and immediately got some tweets querying that . But that ’ s what Broad looked like becoming when he scored that big Test hundred against Pakistan . What he needs to do now is sit down with a recording of that century at Lord ’ s five years ago and watch every single ball to see what he did then . Broad needs to remind himself that he can bat , that he can keep the ball out , and then get in the nets and get someone to hurl short ball after short ball at him . That ’ s what I saw Michael Clarke doing at the World Cup after he had been bounced out a couple of times . Broad ’ s batting woes must not affect his bowling as England need him at his best . He shows a lot of character with the ball and is a steely performer . But with the bat he ’ s showing no character and it ’ s time he said ‘ enough ’ s enough ’ .
Stuart Broad was dismissed for a duck in Antigua 's first innings . The 28-year-old has had a complete demise in his batting . Broad must not let his batting woes must not affect his bowling . He is still is the enforcer and combines well with James Anderson .