Stuart Broad not totally friendless Down Under Stuart Broad may be the most unpopular Englishman in Australia but he's got a couple of fans here. There are Australians cheering for Stuart Broad in the Ashes. They come from the Hoppers Crossing Cricket Club near Werribee where old ties run deep. Hoppers Crossing was where Broad spent a year as a fresh-faced 18-year-old in 2004-05, winning the club champion award after taking 16 wickets at 24 and scoring 381 runs at 29.31. "Well, I've still got mates at Hoppers Crossing," Broad said this week. I'm looking forward to going back there, I speak to them quite a lot. I've got at least five fans in Australia. Seriously? Not sure there are that many. Hoppers Crossing was where Broad learnt about the art of sledging - to dish it out and to take it. "Obviously we are all parochial Aussies but on a personal note we are really keen to see Stuart do well - he is a wonderful bloke," said Hoppers Creek Cricket Club president Steve McNamara. Broad may be anything but a wonderful bloke in the eyes of Australian cricket fans but down Hoppers Crossing way they take sneaky pleasure at having shaped him into the competitive force he is. When he came to us he was 18 and been educated at a public school in England and I don't think he had ever been involved in full-on sledging before. By the end of his stay here he gave as good as he got. It was a big eye-opener for him. He copped a few sledges along the way. Some of the kids who came here from the United Kingdom are pretty keen to party but he was pretty much at home playing ping pong, watching television and was pretty good around the house doping the dishes. Broad stayed with Hoppers Crossing groundsman Graeme Said during his time in Victoria and they remain close and still exchange Christmas greetings. When he was injured on the last Ashes tour three years ago Broad visited Hoppers Crossing and watched the First XI and Second XI in action. Stuart Broad runs in to bowl during the tour match against a Cricket Australia Invitational XI at the SCG. Broad is the son of former strong-willed English opener turned match referee Chris Broad, who had a well-known nonconformist streak but one which team-mates appreciated because it gave them confidence. When Stuart left for Australia last month Chris tweeted a simple message "good luck son" but he will not fret over what lies ahead for Stuart this summer. "He constantly surprises me," Chris once told this newspaper. Having been in this world I, like any father with their children, see pitfalls and you try and help him through. But he seems to see them himself and be able to overcome them with a remarkable amount of ease. He has more ability than I had, which tends to be the case in cricket with sons of fathers who played the game such as Alec and Mickey Stewart, and Mark and Alan Butcher. The only case I can think of which didn't work this way was Chris Cowdrey, whose father Colin was a champion. Stuart would not be my son if he wasn't passionate about the game - I would not want him to be a bland cricketer. There is no danger of that.