After having taken 14 wickets and scoring 182 runs in the ongoing Test series against India, England all-rounder Stuart Broad believes his team is hungry enough to be the best team in the world.
In article for the Daily Mail, Broad said that his contribution with both bat and ball in the two games so far is the stuff of dreams.
He was particularly happy with his man-of-the match performance in the Trent Bridge Test, which England won by 319 runs.
He said that when he went out bat with Graeme Swann on the first day, both decided to take the attack to India.
"I kept on telling myself to be aggressive and, when you start playing a few shots, the opposition can get away from their plans, which in this case had been working well for India," Broad said.
"I had joked with Andy Flower when I found myself at No 9 that 'I scored 74 not out at Lord's and you're dropping me down the order!' But Tim Bresnan showed his true worth at No 8," he added.
"The situation gave me the chance to play my natural game and Swanny and I bounce off each other really well. We just kept telling each other 'Keep it simple, see ball, hit ball' and getting up to 221 gave us a sniff," Broad said.
"A spell of five wickets for no runs? It's a dream, isn't it? The heavy roller had seemed to take a lot of life out of the pitch and it had died a bit by the second day but the second new ball started to swing for us just at a time when India were threatening to get away.
At first, we were trying to bang the ball in hard, but when it swung it was a case of trying to drag them forward, get them on the drive and make them nick off. Then it all started happening," Broad added.
He also rejected the notion that England were aware that they had done Harbhajan Singh in when appealing for a leg before decision after he had inside edged it
"None of us realized that Harbhajan Singh had got an inside edge on to his pad first ball," he claims.
He said that his family was on the ground when he got his hattrick.
"The noise was amazing, the loudest I have heard at a Test for a long time, my family were there and it was on the ground where I used to play on the outfield as a boy watching my dad Chris bat for Notts. It will live with me forever," said Broad.
"My mum, dad and sister were all in the new stand to the right as you walk back to the pavilion so, as I walked off, I managed to show them the ball. Then my dad abused his position as an ICC match referee to come into the dressing room to give me a hug! I managed to get him out of there quickly, but it was extra special having the family there.
I've taken two hattricks before but both of them were for Oakham School. This was a bit different," he said
