Ashes 2025-26: England great Stuart Broad turned to a psychologist to negate the Aussie crowd in 2013-14

Australian Ashes nemesis Stuart Broad sought after the guidance of a psychologist to mitigate to vitriol awaiting him in the 2013-14 series.

Broad opened up in part of a subtle warning to what could be ahead of his English comrades in one of the most anticipated Ashes series in recent memory.

Broad was Australia’s No. 1 target during the short turnaround between Ashes series after he opted against walking at Trent Bridge earlier in the year.

Then Australian coach Darren Lehmann called the non-dismissal “blatant cheating” and encouraged the Aussie public to target Broad.

Broad turned to a psychologist to “build a shield” and eventually saw it as a sign of respect.

“You can’t hide away from it, it’s almost like laughing it off in a sense but trying to find a reason for it,” Broad said on his podcast, For the Love of Cricket.

“I read Sir Alex Ferguson’s book, he had a great chapter in it where Patrick Vieira would come to Old Trafford and the Man United fans would abuse him and nail him.

“Ferguson saw that as a sign of respect, because if you’re a player no one cares about or worries about, you just ignored.

“Whereas if you get booed or you get aggressive press, it means you’re a slight threat – that’s the positive slant I tried to take.

“There were T-shirts everywhere, ‘Stuart Broad is a shit bloke’, stubby holders, I would run down to fine leg people were really aggressive.

“But because I had done a bit of training, I quite enjoyed it – don’t get me wrong the boos at the Gabba, 45,000 people … I was like, ‘Woah, that’s unbelievable.”

England touched down in Perth for the first Test on November 21 earlier in the week and was met by strong media presence.

The local paper went to town on captain Ben Stokes labelling him “England’s Cocky Captain Complainer” in a front-page headline which earned immediate rebukes from the English press.

Broad said the “intense” coverage of players hitting Australian shores was emblematic of an away Ashes tour and something they would have to contend with throughout the five-match series.

“When you tour Australia, you’re not playing against 11 cricketers, you’re playing against the whole country,” he said.

“That’s why anyone who tours Australia will go, ‘Woah, it’s quite a hard tour’.

“Not many English cricketers will say it’s their favourite tour … not many will say Australia because of everything that comes with it.

“You get off the plane just flying from Perth to Brisbane and there’s news cameras in your face with big lights and microphones, it’s quite intense.

“There’s a brilliant to that as well, it’s awesome, it’s special, it’s different.

“That feeling when you put a shirt on and it says ‘Ashes’ under the England badge is magical.”