ALL A-BROAD

Pace ace roars back to set up victory tilt

STUART BROAD took his chance and led the charge that will give England a shot at levelling the series on the final day.

It remains a tall order for England to dash off the runs they need before putting the Windies back into bat again and taking all 10 wickets but, after dismissing them for 287, they have a puncher’s chance.

Having sent Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler out to open the batting and get on with things they finished the day on 37-2, a lead of 219 with Stokes still there to have a morning thrash.

There was evidence of the pitch misbehaving, especially with the newer ball that kept low at times, which should suit both Broad and Chris Woakes as England’s tallest bowlers.

Woakes actually finished with the mathematically more impressive figures of 3-42 when he closed the innings by bowling Shannon Gabriel, but it was Broad’s 3-66 that turned the game at Old Trafford.

Operating from the Anderson End, Nottinghamshire quick

James the his did old mate proud with three wickets for one run after removing Shamarh Brooks lbw for 68.

He dealt with Ageas Bowl heroes Jermaine Blackwood and Shane Dowrich for a pair of ducks to move the game on just when it looked like it was drifting away.

Brooks had looked particularly good for his 68 before Broad struck and, as he charged in, if you listened carefully you could almost hear the chant blowing on the wind.

Under normal circumstances, into the afternoon and with his legs and arms pumping, it would have been inevitable...“he’s big, he’s bad, he’s better than his dad, Stuart Broad! Stuart Broad!”

Broad even tried to gee up an imaginary crowd at the top of his mark.

He was having fun and taking wickets, now up stunning career.

Returning to the side after suffering the angry ignominy of being dropped, Broad wanted to prove a point and he was doing so in the heat of the battle.

It is the same for Stokes, who bowled an energy-sapping spell of 11 overs, mainly full of short stuff that ended up accounting for Kraigg Brathwaite for 75.

When he left the field a little later holding his abdominal area, fear quickly spread among those watching on. Was it an abdominal strain or worst still a side strain? No. Just a spot of indigestion requiring a natural solution.

Earlier in the day and for the first time in Test history, a permitted unnatural solution was applied to the ball after Dominic Sibley admitted to inadvertently using saliva, which meant the umpires sanitised it with a 70 per cent moist alcohol wipe. to 488 in his

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