- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Stuart Broad has joined fellow England seamer James Anderson in the most exclusive of clubs, becoming just the second fast bowler and fifth overall to take 600 Test wickets to steal the show on Day 1 of the fourth Ashes Test.
The dismissal which got him over the line couldn’t have summed up the day’s play any better, either, Travis Head one of a number of Australian batters to throw away a strong start by impulsively hooking Broad straight to fine leg in the first over after tea.
Head’s 48 joined David Warner (32), Marnus Labuschagne (51) and Steve Smith (41) in failing to convert ideal starts into major scores, while Mitchell Marsh would later fall for 51 in what might not have been Australia’s worst day of the series, but was certainly their most frustrating.
With Ben Stokes winning a fourth toss from four for the series and again opting to bowl first, the hosts will be thrilled to have restricted the Aussies to 8/299 at stumps, with four wickets from Chris Woakes, including Cameron Green and Marsh in a momentum-changing over late in the day, the standout performance on a pitch that took some early seam movement but was otherwise ideal for batting.
Only Anderson would go through the day wicketless as Broad claimed two of his own, adding his milestone scalp to his earlier breakthrough of Usman Khawaja in the day’s fifth over.
Having elected to extend their batting order by omitting spinner Todd Murphy to recall all-rounder Cameron Green, Australia will no doubt be keen for Mitchell Starc (23 not out) to extend his late-day rearguard with Pat Cummins (1 not out) and Josh Hazlewood as long as possible on Day 2, with some early turn extracted from Moeen Ali adding further cause for alarm.
“I’m addicted to Test cricket,” a beaming Broad, whose milestone also took him past Ian Botham to become England’s leading Ashes wicket-taker with 149 scalps, told Sky Sports after play.
“It’s a nice ring, getting my 600th pole at the James Anderson End [of Old Trafford]. A very special feeling.
“I went past Glenn McGrath, who was my hero growing up, at the Oval last summer. It’s a sign of longevity.
“As a youngster, I remember getting my cap from Sir Ian Botham in Colombo – I wanted to win big series in that cap. I feel very lucky to have played in some great teams along the way.”
Heading in under perhaps the most pressure of his career following twin failures to Broad at Headingley, Warner couldn’t have started in more emphatic fashion, slapping a loose offering from his nemesis through the covers for a first-ball four.
Unlike in Leeds, Warner would see off Broad’s opening spell; this time, it was his partner who would fall to the veteran quick, Khawaja trapped plumb in front for 3 and taking an ill-judged review with him that found the ball to be crashing into middle stump.
But with Labuschagne too looking composed early, driving Broad back down the ground for a splendid boundary off just his ninth ball, Australia reached drinks – and a bizarre delay to play to fix glare from the Manchester sun shining from stands behind the bowler’s arm – having weathered some challenging seam and swing movement in the opening hour.
Having moved serenely to 32 off just 38 balls, his innings punctuated as much by sharp running between the wickets as his three boundaries, Warner would be the first but not the last to squander the start, drawn into a loose drive off Woakes and edging his first delivery after the break through to Jonny Bairstow.
Smith, out to a reckless shot at a crucial stage of the third Test, nearly fell to one even worse off his first ball, pulling Woakes inches over Mark Wood’s fingertips at fine leg, the Englishman paying the price for having come a few metres off the boundary rope.
From there, though, the champion looked set to ensure it would be his only mistake, punishing the loose Broad for another boundary as the veteran’s return spell cost 14 runs in two overs before being replaced by Moeen Ali.
Far from daunted by his Headingley dismissal to the England spinner, Smith dispatched him for six down the ground off the fifth ball of his first over, the pair taking Australia safely to lunch at 2/107, with honours slightly in their favour.
As happened regularly in the third Test, though, it was Wood, safely handled in the first session, who would find England the breakthrough they needed early in the second.
Rapping Smith on the pads, umpire Nitin Menon was initially fooled by the Australian’s trademark severe movement across his stumps, but the DRS’ unerring eye would break the stand, Stokes’ speedy review ending the veteran’s stay on 41.
The more sedate man in his partnership with Smith, Labuschagne would play an even more circumspect role as Head motored early.
With England once again targeting the South Australian with a bumper barrage, a sharp blow from Wood into the side of the grille bode ill for Head, but it would be his only concerning moment as the in-form number five began to take on the short ball onslaught.
Pulling Wood for four first through backward square and then in front, and giving Broad’s fuller offerings similar treatment when he was reintroduced, Head reached 31 off just 39 balls, contributing 38 off the pair’s half-century stand when it was raised shortly after.
Quieted but unbeaten, Labuschagne would raise his first half-century of the series to end his barren run, but with the stand having swelled to 63 and with Australia in command at 3/183, the day’s costliest blow would fall.
Looking to work an innocuous Moeen straight ball to leg, Labuschagne’s flick would miss, and while umpire Joel Wilson would for a second time deny England’s LBW shout, the DRS would light up with three reds just as it had for Smith: gone for 51, and a third Australian failing to capitalise on a sturdy platform.
Chief destroyer of flagging bowling attacks, Head loomed large heading into the final session: but it would take just five balls for Broad to have his man, and his milestone, Root charging in off the fine leg rope after the South Australian’s reckless shot to see Old Trafford rise as one.
Stuart Broad celebrates his 600th Test wicket. (Photo by Gareth Copley – ECB/ECB via Getty Images)
Marsh, though, seemed keen to pick up right where he left off at Headingley, his strokeplay once again crisp as he crashed the quicks in front of point when they dropped short and larruped Moeen straight for six.
Most emphatical of all was his crisp lofted drive down the ground off Broad, without question the stroke of the day, and summing up how well the much-maligned Western Australian is seeing them in what is fast becoming a career-best vein of form.
Reaching 34 off just 36 balls, a nervous start from the recalled Green was having no impact on the scoreboard, the pair’s closest call a dicey single into the covers that could have spelled doom for either had Stokes connected cleanly; the captain’s frustration told of the chance spurned.
Marsh’s 50, off just 56 balls, was reached with a delicate flick fine for four, the eighth boundary of another dazzling innings one ball after Green had raised the team 250.
It would, however, be the moment Australia lost its grip on the day.
With Menon and Wilson having turned down LBW shouts to Labuschagne and Smith only to see them overturned, it was perhaps in fear of a third such embarrassment that saw Wilson raise his finger at last when the tall Green was rapped above the knee roll by Woakes.
The review’s finding of the ball clipping the bails by the barest of margins was enough to end the all-rounder’s stay on 16, as well as sum up a day on which precious little luck went Australia’s way.
Four balls later, Marsh fell in perhaps even less fortunate circumstances, copping not only the ball of the day from Woakes to seam sharply away and finding the outside edge, but also a one-handed screamer low to the ground from a wrong-footed Bairstow, having spent much of the day flubbing a series of regulation takes.
With Marsh gone for 51, the third Australian to fall between 41 and that number, a safe 5/254 had become 7/255 in six Woakes balls, the England seamer again turning things the hosts’ way.
Carey seemed intent to avoid a repeat of the collapse in the first innings at Headingley from a similar position, turning down an easy single to third man to protect Starc from the dangerous Wood, back for another spell with the tail exposed.
Starc, though, had other ideas, taking a single from the last ball of Woakes’ next over to face the express paceman, and dealing with the remainder of his spell comfortably.
Having revealed before the third Test he had borrowed wife Alyssa’s bat for the series, a pair of sweetly timed mid-wicket flicks off Anderson for four proved Starc’s decision was sound; together, he and Carey would add 38 to take Australia to the brink of stumps.
Unfortunately, there was just enough time for a quick spell with the second new ball, and it would take no time for Woakes to add his fourth.
Once again generating extra bounce to surprise Carey, the wicketkeeper’s decision to leave came a fraction late, the ball kissing the bottom edge of his raised bat through to Bairstow for 20.
While Starc and Cummins saw out two more overs to ensure Australia batted through the first day, it will be a challenge for the pair, as well as Hazlewood, to survive the new ball to start on Thursday.
Having thrown away a chance to take the Test by the throat as they had at Lord’s, Australia will be eyeing heavy rain forecast for the fourth and fifth days in Manchester with nervous anticipation; it may be the elements, rather than they themselves, which are required to prevent an Ashes decider at The Oval next week.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.