Test Match Special - Broad & Anderson immortalised in the Long Room at Lord's

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

Jonathan Agnew speaks with England’s two most successful fast bowlers Stuart Broad and Sir James Anderson as they are honoured with a unique double portrait in the Long Room at Lord’s. We also hear from the award-winning artist Jamie Routley and Michael Vaughan who captained them both.

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on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon music subscription. This is the TMS podcast. From BBC Radio 5 Live. Now there's a lovely occasion in the long room at Lords. It's the unveiling of a double portrait of England's iconic bowling partnership of Sir James Anderson and Stuart Broad. The portrait is painted by the award-winning British artist Jamie Routley, hoping I'll be speaking to him in a few minutes' time.

And it's the first double portrait commissioned by the MCC as part of the Lord's Portrait programme. Well, Broaden Anderson, of course, are the top two test wicket-takers at Lords. Anderson taking 123 in 29 matches and Broad 113 in 28 games here. Anderson features on the famous honours board seven times while Broad is on both the bowling and the batting. So I spoke with them both last night. Firstly, Stuart on his reaction to seeing the portrait for the first time. Overwhelmed, actually. Yeah, really special. Jamie, the artist, done a wonderful job.

We talked to him at length, actually, about what his vision was and what I, vision was and I think both Jimmy and I agreed we'd like to quite traditional almost stand the test of time you know not sponsors on the shirt etc and he's done a wonderful job yeah came in today having not seen it so there's a few nerves I said to Jimmy just before we went up a bit nervousy you know I don't know how to react but yeah really special and you know ultimately we haven't played the game to with a mission to end up with a portrait in the long room, but actually with the time we've been in the game,

it's a really nice moment to sit back, reflect, and go, wow, that's really special. How did you feel, do you mean, when that curtain came down? Again, I was nervous, like Stuart said. But I think we'd spent enough time with Jamie to know that he'd do a good job. And yeah, it's just still surreal, still sinking in, like the feeling of the amount of times

we've been to Lords and played here and walked through or down the stairs from the home dressing room, seeing all the captains on the wall, walking through the long room. And generally it is captains. So again, it feels like special because we're never captain in Test Cricket. So to see that on the wall with some of the other incredible portraits up there is just, you know, it still doesn't seem real. No.

And he must be very special here for you, Jimmy. young lad red streak in your hair making a debut getting the wickets against Zimbabwe I mean you would never even thought in a million years that it would end up like this no I remember that week actually making my debut and looking at the because some of the portraits here are

fairly old and they've got little plaques on the bottom you're reading the plaques to see who it is and what what it was what's that moment they've captured um so I think to to know that that's going to be there long after we've gone is again

just an incredible thing to have the fact that our careers have been good enough to allow that to happen is incredible and we're grateful to the MCC, Mark Nicholas, Emma John as well who's the committee for commissioning that portrait because it's such a special thing and not many people get the honour of having one.

No. I love your sweater in it, Stuart. There's a story behind that, isn't it? I mean, it just stands out as being completely different. Yeah, so it's my dad's sweater, England sweater from, you know, 8 to 4, 8 to 586. It's got the different crown on because in recent times when you sell memorabilia, not allowed to sell the Kings or it was Queen's crown. Is that right? I didn't know that.

Yeah, I think they had to change it for what you can sell. My understanding, so when we would tour, our travel suits would be with the coronet because you're never going to sell your travel suit right so I think that's the I think that's right so is mine worth a few quid then yours probably not but yeah so you know ultimately

why do we love crickets because our families have been involved and I think about mum and dad and the time they spent on the sidelines and you know my dad played as I was just born six months in Australia 8687 and you know that definitely inspired

me to want to play the game so I thought it was a nice nice touch to connect with history on on and wearing my dad's test jumper yeah and I think what he's trying to do Jim is capture you two probably the end of your mark you've got the ball in your hand with that clever motion actually that

he's got as well so you two which is what you did a lot of didn't you do of talking yeah I think that's you know we We've spoken a lot about this since we both finished playing test cricket, that that was probably the biggest sort of differential in our partnership. That's what made it special, the communication between the two of us. We understood each other's game really well.

We stood up and mid on when we bowled so we could help each other out. We'd work the conditions out. We worked the batters out. And even when we were going for dinner, we'd end up on, you know, I remember broadly going, I'm going to come around the week. it first ball to Warner tomorrow. You know, when we're at dinner the night before in Asher's test. Stuff like that is just like what made us from a good partnership to a very good,

very good one. So I just reminded me, do you remember going for dinner in Edgebaston before the first test, maybe 2019 and we sat down, table for two, just we were going for like just a steak. And we sat next to David Warner and his wife. Oh, no, really. So we just went to a random restaurant. We're like, let's go for a steak. We sat down a night before the Ashes series.

like literally where Jim is now David Warner and we're like oh that's a friendly conversation well you you've certainly turned him over a few times a few times in that but was it always an easy conversation I mean but I'm thinking because when when you just started I mean you can't help I know you're all playing in the same team

and all that my generation will find their relationship quite difficult I think because somehow there's that sort of competition for places and you didn't quite trust each other so how did that come about so I I think we started out as competition. So I think it was the 2007 World Cup was probably my first. I thought it was a replacement. Yeah, the first time we've been in a squad together.

And I thought like, you know, this young 20-year-old long blonde hair, my bowl's quick outswing. I'm like, and he's going to take my place. So I think it's competition. And it wasn't until 2008 in New Zealand where Harmson Hogarth got dropped. and me and broadly came into the team where we've sort of learned that we could actually,

we actually complement each other well. So we actually worked together well in a team and I think from then on we sort of, that's how we saw each other. We got closer off the field, we would talk about bowling a lot and stuff like that. And as years went on, then we literally would,

we knew each other inside out. I would know Stuart's bowling action better than him. And if anything went wrong on the field, I'm at mid-off, I can say, you're not picking your legs up enough or you're falling away or whatever it might be. You need to be a foot fuller than what you're bowling. That's stuff like that.

That's probably teamwork, is that? Yeah, that's brilliant. But I think that's what, you know, if you speak to any good opening partnership through the history of test cricket, Wazim and Wackar, McGraw, and whoever he bowled with. Chapman called Shane Warren.

Holokin Donald. Yeah, they've constantly been in conversation about what is the best way to get this guy out in these conditions on this pitch. And that's something that we, you know, by the end we would be able to do it within two overs and be able to go, right, these are the conditions today in this game. Yeah. That's interesting because you both different bowlers, aren't you? So, you know, bowling really different lengths and with different mentality is what you're trying to do. So you should try and help each other is really interesting. But I think that really suited us because there'd be a length that Jimmy would consistently be bowling

and when Jimmy said you need to get a bit fuller. When I did, they might drive at one that Jimmy, they're being really cautious up, but they think, oh, that's a freebie from Stuart. I'll have a go at that and nick it. So we'd often work in the partnership in the sense that we were just coming from different angles. I was a bit wider on the crease. Jimmy was a swing bowler. I would try and wobble it.

But actually just on the point Jimmy made it when we came into the side, it is unusual you get two bowlers that come in to. together. And we often talk about whether that was a brilliant leadership in a sense. You can ask Michael Vaughn tomorrow. I remember Clear as day, Wellington, after training, day before he said to me, I don't need wickets from you tomorrow. I just need energy. I need enthusiasm. Bring that for me. And I was, it was a great message because I went, I can't guarantee wickets, but I can guarantee you not run in and I'll care and I'll give everything. And to put us in together as a young partner,

then it got rid of that competitiveness. You know, it wasn't one or the other for five years. And you're just trying to outdo each other in training. It was, go on then, have a go together. It felt like a new chapter, didn't it? Actually, they had they had turned the page and that you two were going to get an extended. And I think we had decent run it to it. I think the Caribbean we went to in 09.

It, we chopped and changed a little bit. I don't think you played Jamaica, did you? And, and, and, but then from then, it felt like, okay, you're together and try and build something. and trying to find a way for the group to get 20 wickets. Does you see each other a lot now? I mean, do you... I was going to move on to that. Do you miss this presence of looming at mid-on?

Yeah, like, I do. And I've refrained a bit from messaging him and calling him about, you know, struggling with this. Because you've got any ideas for this at length and stuff. Call me, I'm apart from parenting, doing so I thought. I see you slacking off all the bowlers at a minute. Well, that's a thing.

Is he changed? Gamekeeper. Am I'm not slacking one off now? I've got to have been kind. Hey, it's an easy game up there. It's a much easier game. But that was the thing of our partnership, right? We genuinely believed that mid on or mid off,

you saw the game differently from bowling the ball. And that rings true so much from being up in that media center. You see everything so differently that every, bit of info I can get from Jimmy who's not bowling but watching the game from my end is brilliant because when you're in the heat of the battle you're not you're not seeing

everything sort of sat back and looking so you're just in that little battle so you're used to the whole picture of the Comptriebox don't you? Whole picture it's amazing actually and you do quickly fall into the trap of thinking it was easy game easy game

sorry I was just going to say I do miss the the good bits like the travel to the ground you drive into the ground for a day of test cricket you're discussing about who you're going to bowl that today

how are you going to bowl at them how's the wicket going to play and stuff like that and I do miss that because it was a different level to anything I've ever experienced in terms of any other team I've played in without Brody

before or after that period it has just not been the same his attention to detail like the way he thinks about the game I feel like that's quite special the way he thinks about the game very differently to the way I think about the game which is you might think unusual because we were

good together but I think that helped because I saw it slightly differently sometimes he would see it slightly differently but we've got the same very competitive aren't you I can imagine that sort of going through it I was just going to say that they were the good times when we were bouncing and off each other and trying to offer different ideas, but there were times when, you know,

we were not best mates. To fall in that? Who you have a bit of a tip every now in the line? Well, you think you have to, don't you? You have to. If Jimmy's bowling two full and bowling half follies, get it to the length. There was a moment when I was to cook

random at mid-on at Trent Bridge, and I can tell this because he got ten for in the game. And Jimmy was carrying on a little bit. And not that something you could say on, And Cookie ran to me and went, I can't get through to him. You have to have a word with him. He's really dragging the energy out of everyone. He's slagging everyone off.

Like, go and have a word with him and get him to calm down because he needs to get his head on and bowl properly here. So I just like wandered over to them. This will be a brave man to do those. And I was a bit like, Cheers Cookie. Yeah, just what I want to do. And he told me where to go once. I went again and then he called me something that shouldn't be called. And then I decided to go a bit over the top and tell you where to go.

and then you bowl really well. And we didn't speak for about three days? No, it wasn't that? Like three hours. But I think, yeah, that being able to, because I think we both had our moments, though, in that sort of scenario. Like, you've seen you have blokes with captains in the past,

but being able to say, actually, you're in the wrong mate, and then because we've got that respect for each other, you go, eventually, you go, yeah, fair enough, you're right. I've got to ask you, you still not going to join your mate in the Commerger Box yet, or how long you're going to keep going on for? I don't know.

It does look quite comfortable up there, too, it's very comfortable. You too. How long has done it? I know, yeah.

I'm still chucking in. Oh, yeah. I do quite enjoy because I've been doing the, like, miles on the county circuit

and, doesn't it hurt? The body hurt? It hurts when I've got to listen to you for three hours. On a rain delay, but.

No, but I love listening to TMS. I love watching Sky. I think it's great because I've been there. I've done a little bit of both. I've played with a lot of guys that are in both commentary boxes. So seeing that, I think it's great. At the minute, I feel like I can still play. So in my head, I always said I will finish when I don't think I can perform anymore.

And at the minute, like, I've had a bit of a calf and they go, so I'm not. not fit but I've loved it. I've really started this evening. I love playing, yeah. I played eight out of eight championship games. I played a handful of T-20s. I love all of it and at the same time I'm playing for my

my boyhood club which I went to support as a kid and I watched when they were in the 90s when they had a great time in the white ball stuff winning trophies and now there's we've got 17, 18 year olds coming through which I feel like I can

offer advice to if they need it. Yeah, and we've got a group, we are a little bit sort of in transition with that sort of thing, bringing young players through. So I'd love to be able to do that, but I'd also love to try and win some silverware for Lancashire for Lancashire.

And I think with a good mix of experience and youth, we can maybe do that. I just think back to myself starting out in county cricket, imagine having a genuine opportunity to win some silver layer at that age it's such a great experience so we'll see whether I can probably not going to be this year

but maybe next year there you go making congratulations you too it's brilliant Jimmy lovely catching up with you if you don't see you in the commentary box soon but I'll see you I'll go down the corridor Stuart

got to give a bit a stick back at the end what a lovely chat that was Stuart and Jimmy you're listening to the TN M.S podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Your sales order says one thing. Your inventory says another. Your spreadsheet says, good luck. Odu brings your business together on a single platform,

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I'm going to chat to the man responsible for the portrait in a second. Jamie Routly is sitting alongside me. It is brilliant. But Michael Vaughn, first of all, you've got to mention in there. They're like an old married couple those two, aren't they? I mean, they're sort of bickering away at each other. They clearly love each other. But it's a bizarre relationship and trying to control the time. are both such strong characters.

Yeah, they are. I mean, I think resilience and stubbornness, I think, is a huge trait that you're required to play for such a long period of time. I remember Jimmy when he was just a redhead. Yeah, running for the far end. Charging in bowling big out swingers. That's what he was all about.

And then over the years he's just developed. Looking at the grounds he let go with the ball. A huge amount of skill. I remember him bowling that spell early in his career. Adelaide, I think he bowled 10 overs for not too many in a white ball game. when we kind of brought him into that squad. I think that was around 2002-3.

Went to the World Cup after that. Bought a great spell against Pakistan at Newlands and bowled them out. And you always knew he had a huge amount of talent, but it's his ability to keep improving over the years. He had that reputation that he couldn't ball overseas, and they developed the wobble seam and the consistency. Stuart, from the day that I saw him and brought him into the England side in Sri Lanka,

I knew he had something. He was, and I'm not... Quite a tough debut, that was about a four. 400 degrees. Well, we had to feel for a few days, so he got used to bowling, so I saw a lot of him. You know, he had, you know, I'm not saying Matthew Hoggart, Steve Armisen, Andrew Flint or Simon Jones never set a feel, but Stuart straight away, threw in the ball and he said, I want this. So I knew straight away that he was a real thinker of the game. He knew what he was about, very, very competitive. And I actually didn't captain them together that often. It was that series in New Zealand, my last is captain where we went 1-0 down. I stayed very consistent with Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmeson,

Ryan Seipom got Hattrick acting that first game at Hamilton. And Peter Morse was the coach, and he wanted to make the change at the start of the series. And I said, I need to be consistent with those that have done so much work for me. So we said, let's give them that first game. If it goes wrong, we'll make the change. And obviously, we went 1-0 down and straight away went right, the change has to happen.

That transition now from as being an ageing side has to be in the hands of Stuart and Jimmy Anderson going forward. We have to give them a few. games to get together and try and create a partnership and pretty much straight away in Wellington actually so they created something you could see that they have something they had a even though they'll they'll say that they weren't great mates and they were in you know Jimmy said he was in competition with Stewart I get that but I always felt from an early part of their their partnership that they were for each other there's been times in their career where they balled a bit

short they were a bit safe you know and Joe Root was last captain actually there was a period where they they bowled a bit safe but primarily over a course of a long period of of time they very rarely got it wrong and they were a great foil for anyone that captain that you just knew you could throw the ball to Jimmy and Stuart set the tone for England and more often than not they did it as well as any yeah thanks Michael well Jamie congratulations it's it's not often that a portrait actually creates such such such overall approval is that the right word I mean you're feeling that aren't you it's it's a masterpiece definitely I've felt it since

I sort of presented it to the MCC about six weeks ago and it was unanimously approved and it was quite overwhelming because I've been thinking and working on this for about a year. Right. And yeah, I haven't been on social media, I haven't looked at the news, I haven't, I'm just trying to take all of this in such a privilege to be here.

Well, I was gonna ask you, I mean, did you know those? two before I mean do you do you like cricket I mean yes so big sports fan I have my own lived experience of their careers of course but when I started when the MCC asked me to consider how I might go about this I just read for a couple of months I read their biographies a few times you know there's so much information out of podcasts reruns of test matches and just you you look for things to filter through and the I suppose the main thing that kept coming up in my notes

was communication the way they communicated uh between overs the the the fluidity they're very different people yes they are very different characters different backgrounds different styles but for some reason they just click and and it's it's in that small that small thing of communicate it sounds like a small thing communication But I think it made a huge difference. And in sport, it's those small margins that make a big difference. So from that, you then have your portrait with the two of them standing together. Yeah.

It came directly from that. As I'm thinking, as I'm reading, I'm thinking about communication. This very simple idea of the two of them in conversation, not necessarily that we're going to see them in conversation in the painting, but perhaps the conversation is about to occur or perhaps it's just happened but they're both fixed on that wicket. You know, Jimmy uses words like hunting, hunting wickets or you know, wickets are a puzzle to be pieced together. You know, they're so very evocative for somebody like me. Words, you know, create something in your mind and this idea of simplifying it down to to just that conversation.

And then there's a lot going on in the painting that's very subtle. The clothing. Well, the sweater. I mean, as soon as I saw that, oh, because that's like mine. Yeah, exactly. You don't see them anymore. Exactly. And that came up.

It's that lovely cream, rich colour. Yeah, and that's Chris Broad's sweater. He was the number before me. Right. I was next in line. Yeah. That's amazing. I just saw that and thought, oh, that's so good.

I'm so glad that you got that. because Stuart sort of suggested that we were talking about that link with his father and their relationship as the broad family to England cricket to lords and the clothing clothing is often such a subtle way to bring a narrative in and to have that you know Stuart just said to me you know dad's got his jumpers and I didn't realize that back then you were given one set of, you know, and that was it. That's a lot. Yeah. Whereas now. If they shrink in the wash, you've had it. Yeah.

Yeah. And it's in pristine condition. Yeah. Yeah. You look after them, you know. They're very special, those old sweaters particularly. Stuart told me that Chris sometimes wears it to the pub. Oh, surely not, does he?

Apparently, yeah. Well, I don't know. But then, and then modern, I mean, the footwear. Yes. Absolutely modern with the coloured flashes. Yes. Yeah. That was an opportunity just to bring some...

Well, it was an opportunity to bring some colour in. I mean, it's relevant to the game. They're all wearing very bright things. But the Jimmy's last... So in the painting, he's wearing the boots that he wore here at Lords for the last test. And those boots are inscribed. They have on the one boot it has his first test date. And on the other boot, it has the last test.

So it seemed... I wanted to inject a bit of colour into... the painting and and when we when I realized that those dates appeared on the you know Jimmy very kindly sent me the boots down to to work from you know and Stewart's it just works quite well because you know Jimmy has six one three on his sweater you know and that I'm a cricket fan but I didn't it's it's the small details that I didn't quite know enough about so you know that when you're giving your first cap it's you're placed in history.

It's 613 player to play for England. It's chronological. And then Stuart, his dates are on his boots obviously, because he's wearing his father's jumper. And he's 638. He's 25 players later, which you'll probably know how many years between them? Couple was it?

Three years? Three years? Three maybe? I just love... Jimmy was very young. Yeah, yeah. And actually I think Stuart was saying that He may have come to the pavilion.

His grandfather, I think, was a member at 15. And he thinks that Jimmy was playing. Which is quite a nice... Yeah, yeah, that would make that. It's quite nice thought. How many, how long did it take? How many sittings? How often did they come into your studio?

So Stuart lives in London, so he was much more accessible. Jimmy and I spoke a lot in the lead-up. It was probably in nine, probably took about nine months from when the NCC contacted me to when they first came into the studio. So I had a lot of time to think. We had to plan their schedules, you know, Stuarts in Australia with the ashes. Jimmy off-season with the county, I knew as soon as pre-season started, that's it. I'm not going to see Jimmy. Yeah.

Which was the case. And I don't mind that at all. I'm quite, quite similar. You know, you just won't get me once. I start something. And so they came into the studio in February. We had, and by then I had everything planned in my head. I'd done so much research, we've done so much talking, I knew what they wanted.

We were always quite aligned and so I had the light the way that I wanted. I had the, well actually the clothing, that's another story. Jimmy gets on the train and I get a message. I haven't got anything from the list. And so the lovely, so Charlotte Goodhue at the MCC who's just been amazing, everyone's been amazing here. I got on the phone to Charlotte, she's the curator here. And I said, Charlotte, we've got a problem.

Jimmy doesn't have anything. Sittings tomorrow. You know, you can imagine trying to get both of them together for a whole day of sittings. And so she gets on the phone to the lovely Kit Man Loughborough who puts a load of kit, knows Jimmy size, puts a load of kit in a taxi, and it gets driven down to my studio.

And, you know, all of these things going on in the background. I mean, Stuart's great, because Stewart's, you know, he's got kit, he's got... Pretty well organized, you. Very well organized, yeah. And yeah, and so they were in the studio, full day of sittings.

Now my background, I've spent most of my career, working from life recently in the last five years I've introduced ways to work with photography and video which has been really helpful it opens up another way of thinking for me as well and dimensional I guess is it is that a problem it's I think I think because I've got enough experience working from life I I'm not slavishly looking at the photographs and copying them I you know I use a lot of distance in my work so I stand the other side of the studio. So pretty much the way that I had Jimmy and Stuart set up, I knew where I wanted them to stand. I knew that I wanted it to be quite dramatic lighting because another

thing that we spoke about was how the pitch is like a stage and how they both felt, particularly Stuart like actors on a stage. You have a persona on the pitch. Stuart loves a crowd. You know, Jimmy has a persona on the pitch that he has to manage. He has to mind, you know, he's Jimmy. Yes. Can we, yeah, quite grumpy. You know, so yeah, yeah, very. But I wanted, I really wanted that steely.

I was glad that they both came as themselves. They both gave themselves over to the painting. And I got everything that I needed from that long day just in case what I thought would happen. I wouldn't get Jimmy. I do not have an artistic bone in my body. I'm sure you do. What's the first thing?

Would you first commit, the pencil to the, what's the first thing? It's for a big painting like that. I do like to draw things out. You just need to this... What's the first stroke? What is it? Just the eyes are... You need to get as much in as possible.

You need to get as much down to work with as possible. Hesitation is... That's why committing, having the concept in mind, knowing exactly what you're going for, you could just be confident in going for it. And so get as much down as possible. Then you've got stuff to work with. It's like anything.

It's like if you were writing a book, you'd get the first draft down and then you look to filter and you're able to edit. Yeah. Well, you've created something very special, Jamie. Thank you. As you can probably tell by everyone's response,

congratulations. Thank you. And it's such a privilege to be on here. I have to pinch myself really because I listen to you guys all the time. And, yeah, yeah, fantastic. It's a bit of pleasure having. Thank you.

Jamie Rowatley, and if you get the chance to view that portrait. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. I start saying about not letting the truth get in the way of a good story. Well, I'm Correll Prince and I'm in the way. Online I catch out some of the biggest names in football, holding their tall tails to account.

But now the tables have turned. Can I spot the truth from the lies as those same guys who I try to catch, try and catch me out? Roll the tapes. I'm Coral Prince, lie detector, on the Football Daily podcast. Listen on BBC Sound. Get more with BBC Podcasts.

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