The Broad family are extraordinarily grounded. Stuart’s mum was at Old Trafford on day one and didn’t know he had 598 wickets. That’s just the way they are. It’s absolutely wonderful she was here to see his 600th.
Stuart deserves a massive amount of respect for the way he’s worked at it and the challenges he’s faced along the way.
Four years ago, he didn’t think he’d get through that Ashes series.
I know he was thinking about what he should do career-wise because he thought that if he got dropped from the team that summer then he wouldn’t get back in again.
That was 160-odd wickets ago. He was so determined he would not be dropped.
He almost used that as the driving force – that refusal to concede he might finish there and, of course, he didn’t and he’s gone from strength to strength.
Broad has judged his preparation for this series really well and I know he’s very happy with how he’s bowled. He’s got a great rhythm and has hardly bowled a bad spell.
That first pitch at Edgbaston was a horrible thing for someone like him to bowl on and he had a good chunter as he does.
That’s one of the things I always love about Stuart. When he’s on a flat pitch or things aren’t going very well, he deliberately makes himself angry.
He’ll target something – or somebody – totally inoffensive and get in a lather about it.
At Lord’s, he got himself cross about the unusual lines an Australia bowler had marked for his run-up and insisted on the groundsman coming out and painting over them.
Ridiculous, really, but it fires him up.
Fast bowlers need that because it is hard work and you’re bowling long spells. Bowling at this level, you can’t coast.
Every spell has to be incisive and meaningful so Broad will pick on something just to make the juices flow.
That’s why Ashes series bring out the best of him.
He knows all about the rivalry, he understands it and he revels in it. I don’t think it’s any coincidence he’s at his best when playing Australia.
Indeed, he’s now taken more wickets against Australia in Tests than any other player.
The motivation now could be to see if he can keep going and surpass Anderson, who has 688 wickets. It’ll be very interesting to see what happens with those two.
There was a time a few years ago where I think they had in their mind an image of walking off at The Oval together at the end of a series.
I don’t know how long they’ll go on for but I think we’ll see Stuart bowling for a while yet.
Jonathan Agnew was talking to BBC Sport’s Sam Drury.
