Ashes 2025-26: Stuart Broad picks the only England bowler who could counter Steve Smith

Former England pacer Stuart Broad has made a striking admission about Steve Smith ahead of the Ashes 2025–26, confessing that the Australian great remains an unsolved puzzle for him. Despite dismissing Smith a career-high 11 times in Test cricket, Broad stated that he still does not truly know how to get him out.

Broad warned that if England fail to remove Smith early, the series could quickly tilt in Australia’s favour. He suggested that England’s hopes of reclaiming the Ashes hinge heavily on keeping Smith’s average well below his usual towering standards. Even after bowling to him across 32 matches, Broad admitted he never came close to identifying a definitive weakness in Smith’s technique.

He noted that Smith’s constant technical evolution is precisely what makes him so difficult to dismiss, as it prevents bowlers from targeting any one flaw for long. Broad emphasised that the absence of an obvious weakness is Smith’s greatest strength, and acknowledged the batter’s remarkable ability to score runs off even high-quality deliveries.

“Obviously [Smith’s] technique’s changed throughout, but I still can’t sit here and go ‘well this is how you get him out’. He’s incredibly difficult to bowl at. Sometimes you don’t feel like you’ve bowled a bad ball and it still goes for four,” said Broad on For the Love of Cricket podcast.

He recalled a particularly painful memory from the 2017-18 Ashes, when Smith hammered a monumental 239 in Perth. Broad described the innings as demoralising, noting how every plan, variation, and field adjustment seemed useless against Smith’s relentless consistency. Broad concluded that what sets Smith apart is not just his unorthodox technique but his exceptional mental resilience.

“I remember he got this big two hundred [239 in Perth in 2017] and I did not miss the middle of his bat for three days. Every ball I tried to bowl just hit the middle of his bat. He’s got that mindset of ‘OK, this pitch suits me, and I’m not getting out’,” said Broad.

Broad provided England with a clear benchmark for limiting Smith’s impact in the upcoming Ashes. He noted that Smith’s career average of 56.02 climbs to an even more imposing 59.70 in home conditions. Broad stressed that unless they can hold Smith to a significantly lower average across the series, England’s hopes of reclaiming the Ashes will diminish rapidly.

“To win the series, we have to keep him [his average] to under 50, don’t we? He’s gonna score a hundred, it’s what he does. [If] he averages 40, that’s at least 15 under his career average, so you’re doing brilliantly. I think you have to get him early. If England aren’t celebrating in his first 40 runs, it’s going to be a long series,” said Broad.

Looking ahead to the series opener in Perth, Broad suggested that Jofra Archer may be England’s best hope of dislodging Smith early. He also outlined his preferred method of dismissal. Broad recalled England’s 2019 tactical plan to induce catches at leg gully, a strategy Smith expertly countered, going on to score two centuries and playing an extraordinary, match-defining innings.

"Nicking him off from the back of a length, just chasing it. Because Jofra Archer has that angle of nipping back towards the stumps, can he nip one away? Smith’s looking for the nip-backer,” Broad concluded.