LONDON  - Stuart Broad was adamant he bore Pakistan no ill-will as he prepared to face them for the first time since a spot-fixing scandal overshadowed what should have been one of his best-ever seasons.
Broad, primarily a fast-medium bowler, scored a Test-best 169 against Pakistan at Lord's in 2010.
But rather than being remembered for Broad's innings, full of shots of which his father, former England opening batsman Chris, would have been proud, the match became infamous as the game where three Pakistan players were exposed in a spot-fixing scandal by now defunct British tabloid the News of the World.
Then Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were banned for a minimum of five years each by the International Cricket Council for conspiring to deliberately bowl no-balls as part of a betting scam.
And the case took a dramatic twist when the trio were all jailed by a British court in November.  For pretty much all his innings it appeared Pakistan were bowling 'properly' to Broad, who made his runs batting at No 9.
But as soon as the spot-fixing story emerged, there were many who questioned the worth of an achievement that gave Broad a place on the coveted Lord's honours board.
England are now preparing to face Pakistan in a three-Test series in the United Arab Emirates starting on January 17. Broad, speaking before they arrived in the Gulf state, said the past was the past. "I think it's important that we move on from that. Of course there's always going to be that bitterness because it was a very ugly end to what was actually a really nice summer's cricket.
"I thought we actually played very good cricket and it was quite an interesting Test series (England won 3-1), but it was completely overshadowed by what followed.
But there is water under the bridge from there.