Broad puts the Durban demons to rest

Durban : England's emphatic victory in the second Test in Durban at least allowed Stuart Broad one "old acquaintance to be forgot" in time for New Year's Eve.

Two years ago, Broad was struck for six sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh in a World Twenty20 match at Kingsmead, the only time such a feat has been achieved in international cricket between two Test-playing countries.

"It was nice to get six wickets at a ground where I didn't have fond memories," Broad said. "To have one of the best Test wins that I've been involved with will diminish the memory of that poor day.

"Getting hit for 36 in an over was a pretty brutal way to be introduced into international cricket but I'm pleased with the way I've reacted to failures in the past. I've learnt a lot since then and feel confident with my game. It's made me a better player."

As he did in the Ashes win at the Oval, where he took three key wickets in nine balls including Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, Broad played a lead role in Durban, again supplying the killer spell to demolish a much-vaunted middle order.

To dismiss Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy in the same innings is notable enough, but to get all three in the space of 14 balls with each shouldering arms suggests a command, not just of the ball, but of the situation as well.

"I did feel I was in a similar rhythm to the Oval," Broad admitted. "I hit my natural length from the word go and felt comfortable bowling from the Umgeni End. My wrist was getting behind the ball nicely, making it talk a little bit from a dangerous area."

Kallis is one of the great technicians in world cricket with 133 Tests and 10,479 runs to his name, the opposite end of the experience spectrum to Broad, whose 24th Test this was.

On paper, it looks an uneven contest except that pressure can scramble the most rational mind, as Kallis revealed when he padded up to Broad and was bowled off stump.

"I was very happy when I saw Kallis raising his arms because I knew the ball wasn't missing the stumps," said Broad. "They felt confusion about how to bat for a day and half — whether to leave the ball, whether to push on. It is quite an unnatural place to be."

That ball came back into Kallis off the seam. It is something Broad says he has been working on with Ottis Gibson, England's bowling coach, after watching old footage of Shaun Pollock, one of South Africa's exponents of it.

"One thing that helped me before this series was watching footage of Pollock," said Broad. "He is the sort of bowler I want to be like. He seemed to get the ball to move even when the seam wasn't perfectly bolt upright.

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2010