Steyn still the benchmark: Broad

He may carry the tag of the No.1 bowler in Test cricket, but England's Stuart Broad says South Africa paceman Dale Steyn remains the best fast bowler in the world.

Broad took over the International Cricket Council's No.1 Test ranking in January after an impressive nine months for England, which included series wins against Australia and South Africa.

The Englishman took over from India's Ravichandran Ashwin, who himself had dethroned Steyn a month earlier, ending the almost unbroken six-and-a-half-year run of the Proteas star at the top of the pile. Steyn had held top spot continuously from July 2009 to December last year, aside from a three-month stretch in 2013-14 when he was briefly overtaken by countryman Vernon Philander.

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Steyn's recent slide down the rankings to No.4 can be attributed to injury; the right-armer has played only the first Test of South Africa's past two Test series, against India and England, bowling a total of just 40 overs and missing six Tests due to groin and shoulder injuries (respectively) he picked up during the opening match of each series.

Despite Steyn's low output in 2015, Broad says the 32-year-old's career record of 406 Test wickets speaks for itself.

"On the ranking, I'm certainly not going to sit here and say I'm a better bowler than Dale Steyn," Broad said.

"I've said before he is the bowler of our generation."

Much of England's recent success - as it has been for the better part of a decade - has been built on the work of opening bowling pair Broad and James Anderson, with Broad's 8-15 against Australia at Trent Bridge and the 6-17 he took against the Proteas at the Wanderers high points of their winning form.

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Broad has taken 59 wickets in 14 Tests since the start of the last English summer, taking him to a career tally of 333 wickets, third only behind Anderson and Sir Ian Botham in terms of England's Test bowlers.

He's also managed to avoid the kind of injuries that have held Steyn back, continuity that Broad says has been invaluable.

"It's very nice to be at the top of the rankings, but for me it's really come through playing a lot of cricket," he said.

"I've played 40-odd Tests on the bounce now, so I've been out there having the opportunity to take wickets and bowling within a bowling unit that's creating a lot of pressure.

"It's always nice when you do get to a ranking like that, but it's not something I focus on a huge amount."

While he modestly played down his status as world No.1, there's little doubt Broad is on track to end his career as one of England's greatest ever bowlers.

Having debuted as a 21-year-old in 2007, the right-armer has been a regular in the England side in the years since and heads into the first Test of a new English summer, against Sri Lanka at Headingley next week, still a month shy of his 30th birthday.

And greater experience has brought with it more consistent performances, particularly away from home.

Broad has played 35 Tests outside the UK in his career to date, claiming 46 wickets at 40 in his first 18 Tests away from home compared to 60 wickets at 30 in 17 Tests abroad since then.

"I feel with a bit of experience, I know what I'm looking for as a bowler now, know what tempo I'm trying to find in my run-up.

"I feel like I can adapt to different conditions quicker.

"When I was my learning my trade, up until 25 or 26, I only seemed to strike when conditions were really in my favour.

"Whereas I feel the more I've played in different conditions, the more I've realised you have to adapt your game quickly in Test cricket to survive."

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