Stuart Broad's the shining light of our family: Chris Broad

Chris Broad, the father of Stuart Broad, has hailed his son for his monumental achievement after he went past Sir Ian Botham and is now at the second place in England’s all-time list of Test wicket-takers. Broad achieved the 384th wicket during the third day of the first Test between England and West Indies which was played with the pink ball.

The bowler from Nottinghamshire now only has his teammate James Anderson (492 wickets) ahead of him. Both the bowlers open the bowling for England and have proven to be the nightmare for the opposition many times. Chris said he was proud of his son who has been a shining light of their family.

“I’m immensely proud. He’s been a shining light in the family for his career since he first started. We’re all very proud of his achievement and to get to a person like Ian Botham and his record is a monumental achievement. When he’s bowling, he just looks a dream,” Broad Sr said while speaking to BBC Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.

Broad and Anderson will trouble batsmen for long-time

The former England batsman also believed that his son along with his bowling partner James Anderson will trouble for a long time in the upcoming years. He was particularly impressed with the fitness of the duo and said that the fitness will never be an issue for both of them in the fag end of their careers.

“You look at Jimmy Anderson, you look at Stuart, they are as fit now as they were when they were 21-year-olds,” he added. “As long as both of those bowlers — Jimmy I thought looked fantastic (on Saturday), and in fact throughout the game — continue to hold on to that nip, that little bit of zip off the pitch, and stay fit, then they can go on for as long as they want,” he further added.

Chris also revealed that his son had a few drinks with the legend Botham himself after surpassing his wickets tally. “”Well, I know what Ian Botham’s quiet drinks are like, but hopefully it didn’t end up like that (on Saturday night),” the former England cricketer signed off saying.