Records and milestones by Stuart Broad in the 4th Ashes Test

Stuart Broad during the first day of 4th Ashes Test at Nottingham

The fourth Test match of Ashes 2015 will be, for a long time, remembered as Broad’s Test. The assault he created on the Aussies from his very first over on the first session of the first day is not seen often in Test cricket. Though James Anderson was absent, the impact created by Stuart Broad alone was more than what can be expected from the Broad-Anderson duo normally.

Stuart Broad reached his 300th test wicket with just the third ball of the match, but that was not all he would achieve in just next about one hour. He took two wickets in the first over of the match, and then by the time he was bowling his fourth over he had taken five wickets. On the first ball of his third over he took the fifth wicket of his inning, just 19 balls! He was unstoppable. He took eight wickets conceding just 15 runs to demolish the Aussies for just 60 in 18.3 overs, well before the lunch of the first day!

In the Test, Stuart Broad reached many milestones and created records. Let’s have a brief look on them.

Stuart Broad became only the fifth English bowler to take 300 wickets in the history of Test cricket. Before him, Fred Trueman, Bob Willis, Ian Botham and James Anderson reached this feat.

300th wicket of English bowlers

Bowler	Against	Venue	Date	Batsman	Matches
Fred Trueman	Australia	The Oval	15-Aug-64	Grahame Corling	65
Bob Willis	New Zealand	Leeds	01-Aug-83	Jeff Crowe	81
Ian Botham	West Indies	The Oval	09-Aug-84	Roger Harper	72
James Anderson	New Zealand	Lord's	17-May-15	Peter Fulton	81
Stuart Broad	Australia	Nottingham	09-Aug-15	Chris Rogers	83

Stuart Broad is the slowest among all the five English bowlers who got to this feat. He took 83 tests for this. Not only for England but he is one of the slowest bowlers to get to this milestone amongst all the 29 bowlers with 300 wickets.

Most matches for 300 test wickets

Bowler	Matches
Daniel Vettori	94
Chaminda Vaas	90
Zaheer Khan	89
Kapil Dev	83
Stuart Broad	83

Stuart Broad’s 8/15 are the best bowling figures for England in Tests since Jim Laker’s 10/53 and 9/37 in the same test at Manchester in Ashes 1956. However, amongst the pace bowlers, 8/15 is the fifth best bowling figure for England.

Least balls to take 5 wickets in Tests

Stuart Broad took his 5th wicket on the 19th delivery of his inning. He equaled Ernie Toshack’s record of least balls to take 5 wickets in a test inning in 19 balls. Toshack did it against India at Brisbane in 1947. However, the least balls spanning any five wickets at any stage of a test inning is in 13 balls by Monty Noble in 1902 and Jim Laker in 1956.

Best bowling figures by English fast bowlers in Tests

Bowler	Figures	Against	Venue	Season
George Lohmann	9/28	South Africa	Johannesburg	1895/96
Devon Malcolm	9/57	South Africa	The Oval	1994
Sydney Barnes	9/103	South Africa	Johannesburg	1913/14
George Lohmann	8/7	South Africa	Port Elizabeth	1895/96
Stuart Broad	8/15	Australia	Nottingham	2015

In fact, Stuart Broad’s 8/15 are the best figures by an English fast bowler against any team except South Africa as the top four figures are all against South Africa.

15 runs conceded for 8 wickets are the third lowest number of runs conceded to pick up 8 or more wickets in a Test inning.

Cheapest 8-wicket hauls in Test cricket

Bowler	Figures	Against	Venue	Season
George Lohmann	8/7	South Africa	Port Elizabeth	1895/96
Johnny Briggs	8/11	South Africa	Cape Town	1888/89
Stuart Broad	8/15	Australia	Nottingham	2015
Glenn McGrath	8/24	Pakistan	Perth	2004/05

Stuart Broad’s all 8 wickets in the inning were caught and all were by fielders but none by a wicketkeeper. It is the first instance of a bowler taking 8 or more wickets in an innings which were all caught by other fielders. There are four more instances of a bowler picking 8 or more wickets and all were caught but involving wicketkeeper or the bowler himself.

8 or more wickets all caught in an inning

Bowler	Figures	Against	Venue	Season	Catches description
Stuart Broad	8/15	Australia	Nottingham	2015	All caught by fielders
Wilfred Rhodes	8/68	Australia	MCG	1903/04	6 caught by fielders, 1 by wicketkeeper and 1 caught & bowled
Jack White	8/126	Australia	Adelaide	1928/29	7 caught by fielders and 1 caught & bowled
Bob Massie	8/53	England	Lord's	1972	6 caught by fielders and 2 by wicketkeeper
Angus Fraser	8/75	West Indies	Bridgetown	1993/94	7 caught by fielders and 1 by wicketkeeper

Stuart Broad’s all the wickets were caught behind, but none of them by the wicketkeeper!

8/15 is the best figures at Nottingham (Trent Bridge) in test matches.

Best bowling figures at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in Tests

Bowler	Figures	Team	Against	Season
Stuart Broad	8/15	England	Australia	2015
Muttiah Muralitharan	8/70	Sri Lanka	England	2006
Bernard Bosanquet	8/107	England	Australia	1905
James Anderson	7/43	England	New Zealand	2008
Sir Alec Bedser	7/44	England	Australia	1953

With Muralitharan and Bosanquet being spinners, the top two bowling figures at Nottingham among pace bowlers belong to the current opening pair of England: Stuart Broad and James Anderson.