Ashes: Stuart Broad becomes first England bowler to reach 150 wickets
Jul 28, 2023
London [UK], July 28 : Pace veteran Stuart Broad emerged as the first England bowler to complete 150 wickets in his Ashes career on Friday and the only third bowler to accomplish the landmark.
Broad accomplished this milestone during England's fifth Ashes Test against Australia at The Oval.
During Australia's first innings, Broad removed Usman Khawaja and Travis Head quickly and reached the landmark.
Now in 40 Ashes matches, Broad has taken 151 wickets at an average of 28.81, with the best bowling figures of 8/15. He has taken six four-wicket hauls and eight five-wicket hauls in his Ashes career.
The English pacer is the third-highest wicket-taker in Ashes history, next to Australia's pacer Glenn McGrath (157 wickets in 30 matches, best figures of 8/38) and late Aussie spin great Shane Warne (195 wickets in 36 matches, with the best figures of 8/71).
In 167 Tests so far, Broad has taken 602 wickets at an average of 27.63, with best bowling figures of 8/15. He has 20 five-wicket hauls and three ten-wicket hauls in Test cricket.
Age is not really a barricade for Broad. In five Ashes Tests in this series, he has taken 20 wickets at an average of 27.25, with the best bowling figures of 4/65. He has a single five-wicket haul in the series and is the highest wicket-taker in Ashes 2023 so far.
Coming to the match, at the end of the first session of day two during the first innings, Australia registered a score of 115/2 with Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja unbeaten at the crease with scores of 13* and 47* respectively. The play commenced for the second session.
In their first innings, England was bundled out for 283 runs after being put to bat first by Australia. Harry Brook (85 in 91 balls with 11 fours and two sixes) top-scored for England and had a 111-run stand with Moeen Ali (34 in 37 balls with three fours and two sixes) after England slipped to 73/3. Later a 49-run stand for the eighth wicket between Mark Wood (28) and Chris Woakes (36) helped England reach a decent first-innings score.
Mitchell Starc (4/82) was the pick of the bowlers for Australia. Josh Hazlewood and Todd Murphy took two wickets each while skipper Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh got a wicket each.
Australia is leading the five-match series 2-1. Though Australia has regained the Ashes urn, England can still go out of this home series respectfully after a 2-2 draw.
