Top 5 spells of Stuart Broad

#1 8/15 vs Australia, Trent Bridge – 2015 (Test)

This is one spell which will forever be etched in the memory of almost every cricket fan. It was cool morning at Trent Bridge in Nottingham and under cloudy skies and a greenish track, England who were 2-1 up in the series won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Broad who was leading the England attack in the absence of James Anderson, struck early as he gave England a dream start dismissing Chris Rogers and Steve Smith in the first over and in the process also got his 300th Test wicket. And then it was just a procession.

Broad ran in hard and hit the right areas and kept finding the edge. Every wicket that Broad got was caught behind (in the slips or by the wicket-keeper). It was seam bowling of the highest quality as he ran through the entire Aussie batting line-up in less than 10 overs. He bowled an unchanged opening spell and finished with stunning figures of 8/15.

Broad who had taken just 7 wickets in 3 Tests in the lead up to the Trent Bridge game blew away Australia’s chances of retaining the Ashes. Australia were dismissed for 60 inside 90 minutes on the first day and hence, never recovered. Joe Root slammed a century while Steven Finn took a 6-fer in the second innings to help England complete a thrashing as they won by an innings and 78 runs to regain the Ashes.

But there is absolutely no doubt that this spell of 8/15 from Stuart Broad will go down as one of the finest in Ashes and Test cricket history.