On this day: Stuart Broad’s destructive spell of 8/15

We rarely see an international team being blown away as Australia did on that fateful day in 2015. Stuart Broad produced scarcely imaginable bowling figures of 8/15 as the Aussies floundered to 60 all out.

The lethal spell

Australia braced the field at Trent Bridge with an aim to level the Ashes. However, Broad’s rampage steered England to go 3-1 up in the series as England eventually clinched the Ashes despite losing the fifth and final Test at the Oval. Broad, in the absence of Anderson, rose to the occasion after the Australian side was put to bat first by Alastair Cook.

The visitors were ripped to shreds for 60 in the first innings as they bowed down to Broad’s scintillating spell. Ahead of the Test, Broad needed just one wicket to reach 300 Test wickets. He didn’t waste any time as he scalped the wicket of Aussie opener Chris Rogers on the third ball itself. Broad became the fifth English bowler to take 300 Test wickets, and second English player (after Ian Botham) to reach 300 wickets.

But the Nottingham man didn’t stop there. He scalped another four wickets in his first 19 balls to equal the record for the fastest-ever Test match five-wicket haul, as the Aussies were left reeling at 21/5. Broad’s carnage decimated the rivals as Australia’s innings ended after just 18.3 overs.

#OnThisDay in 2015, Stuart Broad took a career best of 8-15pic.twitter.com/X6QiVrQcKt

— Prithvi (@The_BeardMan_) August 6, 2020

Broad took the last three wickets as Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson edged to Root at third slip and Nathan Lyon was held by Stokes at sixth slip. There were still 20 minutes until lunch but Broad was in a hurry to tear down Michael Clarke and his men as Australia ended their first innings with only 60 runs on the scoreboard.

England cruise to victory

England, in response, amassed a 391-run total in their first innings on the back of Root’s 130 and Bairstow’s 74. Broad, in Australia’s second innings, scalped a solitary wicket but he had already done the damage. Ben Stokes’ six-wicket haul curbed the Aussies to 253 in the second innings as England clinched the encounter by an innings and 78 runs.

More than England’s triumph, the Test is still remembered for Broad dominance at Trent Bridge. Playing his 83rd Test for the Three Lions, Broad returned home with third-best Ashes bowling figures, bettered only by Jim Laker’s 9-37 and 10-53 at Old Trafford in 1956. Broad’s five-wicket haul in 19 deliveries was the fastest taken from the start of a Test innings.