Don't class that as 'real Ashes': Stuart Broad's strong comments about Australia's 4-0 win

Mind games have started ahead of the 2023 Ashes as England pacer Stuart Broad has made a strong statement, saying the previous edition of the Ashes in Australia wasn't the "real Ashes."

Australia thrashed England 4-0 in the 2021-22 Ashes series. Broad, who played three games out of the five Tests Down Under, said the difficulties due to the covid-19 restrictions did not make life easy for the players around that time.

"Nothing was harsher than the last Ashes series. But in my mind, I don't class that as a real Ashes. The definition of Ashes cricket is elite sport with lots of passion and players at the top of their game," Broad told the Daily Mail.

"Nothing about that series was high-level performance because of the Covid restrictions. The training facilities, the travel, not being able to socialise. I've written it off as a void series," the English pacer added.

Except for the New Year's Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) where England did not lose all their 10 wickets in the second innings, Australia thoroughly dominated in each of the other fixtures, with their best result coming in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Australia thrashed England by an innings and 14 runs in the second Test.

Ever since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have taken charge of the English Test side as the captain and head coach, the side has been on another level with a very aggressive approach. In the 'Bazball' era, England have won seven out of their last 10 Test outings.

Speaking about the same, Broad said that he was keen to see Australian bowlers' approach against English batters, who have been playing positive cricket over the last 12 months or so.

"I'm fascinated to see how their bowling attack will defend against us, and it will be interesting to see how their batters stay calm because we play so aggressively now. Will they be able stick to their game plans and bubbles when we're playing this style? That will be a test for them.

"It would be great for us if Australia try to take us on at our own game. If we can get them playing in a slightly different style they could make mistakes and that would be brilliant for us," Broad added.

England are going to kick-start the summer with a one-off Test against Ireland at Lord's. The upcoming Ashes is set to get underway on June 16 with the opening Test to be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham.