Bowling greats of England James Anderson and Stuart Broad have revealed that former South Africa batsman Graeme Smith was one of the toughest batsmen they have bowled to in their careers.
Smith, regarded as one of the best players of leg side, scored 7 centuries in 21 Tests against England with his best coming in 2003 when he scored consecutive double hundreds against the three Lions.
“Graeme Smith, I found an absolute nightmare,” Broad said in an Instagram Live video with Anderson as quoted by Cricket Australia.
“I wish I could have bowled at him having worked on my around the wicket stuff and try and draw him to drive through extra cover.
“But for me just over the wicket trying to swing it into the stumps, hopeless,” he added.
However, Anderson was playing in the 2003 series wherein the Protea was outplaying England.
“I had exactly the same problem,” he said.
“When I first started, my first series against him was 2003 and all I could do then was swing the ball back in. I didn’t have an out-swinger to a left-hander and I couldn’t wobble the ball across him. So I was just feeding his strength. I just go so annoyed.
“And when you thought ‘alright, I’ll start the ball a bit wider outside off stump’, and he still got it through the leg-side. He got two double hundreds in that series in 2003. He was just impossible to bowl to. I hated it,” he added.
The two speedsters have collectively taken 1069 wickets so far for England. Out of the total, Anderson has claimed 584 while Broad had taken 485.