ENGLAND ON EDG
Broad concedes a record over from Bumrah blitz as India take control
STUART BROAD is already in the record books for being hit for six sixes by Yuvraj Singh in an over against India in a T20 in 2007.
And he is now in it for the most expensive over in Test history as well, having been hammered for 35 by Jasprit Bumrah at Edgbaston.
On a chastening day for England, which saw them let India wriggle off the hook to post 416 all out and then reduce Ben Stokes’s men to 84-5 – 332 adrift – it was the bowler hanging his head.
Jimmy Anderson admitted England were up against it, but insisted they were ready to fight fire with fire.
“We’ve been in this position before this summer, so it’s a case of trying to come back,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of guys in the dressing room willing to fight and get back into this game and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
In between rain breaks, which allowed just over 35 overs, Broad brought up a 550th Test wicket but was then brought back crashing down to earth by stand-in India captain Bumrah.
Broad’s travails will go down in the scorers’ book as 4, 5w, 7nb, 4, 4, 4, 6, 1 – but the momentum shift not recorded was every bit as significant
It allowed India to add 41 in just 2.3 overs to go from 375-9 to 416.
“On another day one of those top edges goes straight to hand. If that gets taken nobody talks about the over. It was pretty unlucky,” said Anderson.
It got much worse as India’s bowlers then tore through England’s top order to leave them well behind the eight ball going into day three.
England will take heart from the fact it was from similarly shaky ground that India launched a quite superb counter-attack on the opening day.
And in Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow they certainly have the right blend of quality and aggression with which to do just that.
But against this bowling attack, that will be difficult.
It had taken England an hour to finish off the Indian innings in the morning session and it saw Broad (right) post two milestones.
It was Mohammed Shami, who ramped a ball to Jack Leach at third man, who gave the England man his 550th Test wicket.
But, two overs later, he entered the history books for all the wrong reasons.
With the new ball just three overs old, Broad’s over was not just statistically bad, but inexplicable, bowling short to tailenders.
Anderson mopped up the final wicket to finish with 5-60.
Just three overs were bowled before the first of three major rain breaks, but it was enough for Alex Lees to leave a huge gap between bat and pad, which Bumrah arrowed one through.
When they returned, the same bowler mopped up Zak Crawley, edging to Shubman Gill at second slip, to leave England wilting at 27-2 and then 44-3 when Ollie Pope edged to second slip.
Yet it was Mohammed Siraj who bagged the crucial wicket of Joe Root five overs before the close, which tilted the balance firmly in the tourists’ favour.