On this day in 2016: Stuart Broad destroys South Africa in a tremendous spell
Stuart Broad has been England’s match-winner over the years and has shown strength, endurance, skills and consistency over the years especially in the purest format of the game. Though the right-arm quick has produced a plethora of stunning performances in Whites, one that stands out among the lot is his scintillating spell of 6/17 that had destroyed the South African batting line-up in 2016 in Johannesburg.
England toured South Africa for a four-match Test series followed by five One Day Internationals and two outings in the shortest format of the game in 2016. The marquee tour commenced with the visitors winning the first Test while the second ended in a draw. The third game, that spanned from January 14 to January 18 at New Wanderers Stadium was do-or-die for the hosts to save the Test.
England take a slender lead
The toss went in the favour of home captain AB de Villiers and he elected to bat first. Africa managed to post a massive total of 313 runs on the board in the first innings. There was no standout performance from the hosts but every batsman contributed to help their team reach a decent total. Opening batsman Dean Elgar was the highest run-getter for South Africa with 46 runs while Ben Stokes emerged as the pick of the bowler for England with 3 wickets.
In reply, England gave a tough fight as they managed to rack up a total of 323 on the scoreboard and take a 10-run lead on the back of a stunning knock of 110 runs off 139 deliveries by Joe Root. Kagiso Rabada was the wrecker-in-chief for the hosts as he picked as many as five wickets.
Broad blows South Africa away
Meanwhile, the England quick Stuart Broad stole all the limelight in the third innings as he went all guns blazing against the opponents feeble batting line-up. The South African batsmen had no answers to the questions posed by Broad as no one took the responsibility to score runs. Stuart picked 6 wickets while giving just 17 runs at an economy rate of 1.4 to clean up the opposition at a paltry total of 83 within 33.1 overs. That was a historic collapse of Africa’s batting line-up as no batsman scored even 20 runs while Board registered one of the best spells of his cricket career in the purest format of the game.
Owing to Stuart Broad’s performance, England had to chase just 73 runs in the fourth innings and they collected the task within 22.4 overs to easily clinch the game and the series. Broad was rightly adjudged the Player of the Match for his exemplary performances with the red ball.
