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ShareJohannesburg: England all-rounder Stuart Broad has said that his long term aim is to play 100 Tests for his country and in the Indian Premier League (IPL), besides being a good number seven bat for the team in the longer version of the game.
"If England want me to go in at No 7, I'm always working very hard at my batting. As an ultimate goal I'd like to be a Test No 7 but we've also got the options of Adil Rashid, who has a good first-class record, and Luke Wright, who has really improved in the last six months and scored first-class hundreds for Sussex," Broad told The Independent.
Aware that he could be a clear case of burnout if he overdid himself during the tour to South Africa and Bangladesh, and followed it up with a stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Broad says that he has given all of this considerable thought.
"I don't think you can ever ask for a breather at international level. That's for the hierarchy to decide. But player burnout is going to be a huge worry," Broad said.
"In future the best way will be to rotate people, something Australia do fantastically well. They will go to one of their key players and tell him he's having the next three games off but assure him he will then be straight back into the team, even if his replacement scores three hundreds while he's away. It is a difficult balancing act but it cannot carry on as it is, because players will either not perform to their best or just break down," he adds.
"I want to play on beyond 30. And I've got aims and ambitions ?" to play 100 Tests, to be England's leading one-day wicket-taker, to win World Cups and to win more Ashes series," Broad said.
"I think the medical staff are clued up to the fact that a two- or three-week break here and there can prevent you from being out for six months just down the line," he added.
Early next year, no doubt, Broad will need to consider the IPL question once again and he stresses that it is "something I do want to experience at some stage".
