Broad shoulders responsibility

9:59am Wednesday 14th May 2008

Stuart Broad has set his sights on developing into an international-class all-rounder as England prepare for another Test without the services of Andrew Flintoff.

The Nottinghamshire seamer has already shown potential with the bat in his three Test appearances so far, scoring runs in both innings of the final Test victory in Napier over New Zealand in March.

But he now wants to build on that and said: "It's obviously very important in international cricket now to be able to hold a bat. It's very important for me not just to hold up an end but to have an ability to score runs."

He added: "I have worked on it very hard and it's great having Andy Flower in the set up as a former world number one and left-hander, so he's great to work with and chat to about my batting.

"It's coming on, I'm enjoying it and working hard on it and my aim is to become a Test number eight.

"If you look at (Daniel) Vettori he must be one of the better ones around and he's turned himself into a high-class batsman - it's that sort of example with people like Vettori and Brett Lee that I'd like to follow."

Renowned more for his aggressive style of bowling than his batting so far, Broad has shown enough in his appearances to suggest he does have runs in him and admits to enjoying life at the crease with a bat in his hand.

"I enjoy batting and hitting a good cover drive gives me almost as much enjoyment as bowling," he revealed. "It's a great buzz batting, I enjoy the battle between batsman and bowler no matter what side I'm on.

"If you look at successful sides they all bat a long way down. We all know at number eight, nine, 10 and 11 that every run is vital.

"There's nothing worse when you're a bowling side when the lower order batsman are hanging around, scoring runs and being difficult to dismiss."

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