Stuart Broad reflects on his best England bowling spells in the Ashes | Cricket News

Stuart Broad has produced some dynamic Ashes spells over the years.

Most notable is his 8-15 at Trent Bridge in 2015, which torpedoed Australia for just 60 and was made all the better by his facial expression when Ben Stokes took a stunning catch in the slip cordon.

Ahead of this year’s Ashes opener, the seamer sat down with Sky Sports Cricket to reflect on some of his top bowling stints against Australia…

5-37 – The Oval, 2009

BROAD SAYS: “It was the first series where I’d really been in the team consistently and I bowled a spell at the Oval when we were 2-1 up in the series that made me feel like I could do it, like I belonged at the Test match level. I walked in to lunch with Australia 80-odd for none; I hadn’t bowled yet and Straussy pulled me aside mid-jacket potato and said ‘look, I want you to start after lunch. We need a little bit of energy, we need something different. Go and try a few things, go and experiment; just look to try and take wickets. Don’t worry about the runs’. That was a boost of confidence that I needed from the captain.

“When you are going into a spell like that it’s crucial that you get confidence early, that you get a wicket or a chance in your first couple of overs and fortunately what felt like a pretty straight ball hit Shane Watson on the shin and that got me going. The thing that I remember most about that spell was the crowd. Every time that I walked down to fine leg in between overs they gave me such a big boost and such a lift and that was something I wasn’t used to – I hadn’t had that success in a spell that the crowd jumped on and pushed me forward.

“I remember being very clear about different plans to different batsmen. We talked about, in the meeting before the match, having a close catcher for Michael Clarke and fortunately it was one of those days. He hit it straight to him. Mike Hussey – our aim was to make him play every single ball because he used to leave as many as possible. He looked to leave an inswinger and luckily it tracked back towards the stumps and caught him before he could get his bat down and it was one of those days when plans just came together perfectly. It was fortunate for me that it happened in a Test match that helped England regain the Ashes.”

6-50 – Durham, 2013

BROAD SAYS: “We played three brilliant Test matches leading into that game. We survived at Old Trafford to get a draw but played beautifully at Trent Bridge and Lord’s leading into Durham, knowing that any sort of result would win that Ashes series. It was a pitch that nibbled; it was a pitch that 230 or 240 felt like a good score throughout. We got ourselves into a position to defend 270 on day four and in typical Ashes style we were expecting to win that game. Walking out with a brand new ball we then came in at tea with Australia something like 130-1.

“Warner was smashing us everywhere. It was quite a heated tea-time 20 minutes. I remember Matt Prior having a bit of an encouraging word with me – that would be a nice way to put it. We had a bit of an argument. He said ‘come on, you’ve got to limit your bad balls because there’s enough in this pitch. Let’s stop these easy boundaries and just show a bit more aggression out there’. That was a bit of a turning point for me and we ended up as a team having a brilliant hour-and-a-half after tea where we simplified it. We were trying too hard on a pitch that we didn’t need to try that much on and we decided to bring the stumps in as much as possible.

“The memorable wicket was Michael Clarke straight after a drinks break. We actually had a chat about putting a short leg in and a deep square – not to bowl a bouncer but to just pretend that we were going to and first ball after the drinks break he played forward to one that just nipped away and hit the top of off stump. That was the momentum builder. That was probably my favourite wicket in that series but the memory of Peter Siddle chipping the final wicket to Jimmy Anderson at mid-off will stay with me; for us to win that series, to take the wicket that helped us win the Ashes, was a brilliant feeling.”

8-15 – Trent Bridge, 2015

BROAD SAYS: “Going into Trent Bridge we were 2-1 up in the series with two to play. Playing at your home ground you always have extra excitement and those extra nerves as well, because your friends and family and people that you know are there. Jimmy Anderson had hurt his side and was out of the attack so there was a bit more of a responsibility on us as a bowling unit to hold it together. We got there and there was a bit of a green pitch – I think there was seven millimetres of grass on it, which was similar to the Edgbaston pitch we’d just come from. I remember saying to Cooky – at Trent Bridge it’s a bat first. You win Test matches batting first here. And it was quite obviously a bowl first as we bowled Australia out for 60! Some things in cricket are written in the stars a little bit and that was my day.

“There was a five-minute rain break before we went out to bowl which just added a little extra spice to the pitch. There was a great buzz around the ground. I got that bit of luck which I needed in the first over with an edge that went straight to Cooky and Steve Smith played at one outside of off-stump and you’re off and running. I still think the biggest wicket of that day was Mark Wood getting David Warner first ball because he’s a dangerous player who plays well on a pitch that moves. That gave us a huge belief at 10-3 of putting a middle-order under pressure that hadn’t spent a lot of time in the middle. The pitch nibbled that perfect amount – that half bat width – and we took some amazing catches, notably Ben Stokes at fourth slip. I obviously look back with huge fondness on that.

“I went through all sorts of emotions – huge elation at getting five-for very quickly in the morning and then what felt like an eternity to get the last couple of wickets. I remember feeling pure relief in my celebration when Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson edged to slip because it felt like we’d gone hours without taking a wicket but actually it was only four or five overs but after the pace of the first hour, it really slowed down. So it was probably the best feeling I’ve had in cricket, sat there with a cup of tea 15 minutes before lunch watching Cooky and Adam Lyth bat knowing that we’d bowled Australia out and pretty much won the Ashes in an hour-and-a-half.”

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