Ian Bell names three pacers who can replace Stuart Broad in England Test team

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Ian Bell has shortlisted three England pacers who can replace Stuart Broad, who retired after the just-concluded Ashes 2023, in the England Test team.

Broad announced his intention to retire from cricket after the conclusion of Day 3 of the play of the fifth and final Ashes 2023 Test at The Oval in London. Interestingly, he picked the final two wickets of the match to help England win the final Test and level the series 2-2.

Broad played 167 Test matches in his career and picked 604 runs. He is only the second fast bowler in the history of Test cricket to pick over 600 wickets. He also scored 3662 runs including a hundred and 13 fifties.

Quite naturally, England are going to the services of Broad and need an apt replacement. Bell has come up with three options to help Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

The legendary batter has picked Ollie Robinson, who has 76 wickets from 19 Test matches, as his first choice.

"I think as far as replacing Broad goes, England have options and they are down the road to finding some good operators. Ollie Robinson, of course, comes back into the team," Bell told Betfair.

Further, Bell also named Josh Tongue and Essex's 26-year-old pacer Sam Cook. While Tongue made his debut against Ireland in June this year and also featured in the Lord's Test against Australia, Cook is yet to receive a national call-up.

"Josh Tongue made his debut this summer and it looked as though he could handle the pressure of a big series," Bell said about the 25-year-old right-arm pacer who has 10 wickets from 2 Test matches and 177 wickets from 50 first-class matches.

"Sam Cook, from Essex, could do a job. I was with him with the Lions in Sri Lanka. He has a high skill level, hits the top of off with consistency like nobody else and his control of length is fantastic.

'What is key is recognising that guys like Tongue or Cook need time to bed in. You can’t expect either of them to be as good as Stuart straightaway," Bell added.

England have a good 5-month time to decide on Broad's replacement as their next Test assignment is against India in January 2024.