Was this England cricket’s greatest day ever?
NOTTINHAM: There have been some classic Ashes Trent Bridge moments in modern memory, from Gary Pratt running out Ricky Ponting in 2005 to Ashton Agar making a name for himself here two years ago before Jimmy Anderson hauled England home. But there has never been anything quite like this.
This was the day when England, led by the magnificent Stuart Broad, demolished Australia in the time it takes to play a football match before Joe Root put their collapse in context by racing to another sublime century. It ended, gloriously for England, with Alastair Cook perfectly placed to push for another rapid victory and with one hand firmly gripped on the fabled urn.
Above all, it was a dream of a day of which the England supporting majority among the 18 000 lucky spectators will always be able to boast “I was there”.
Surely there is no way back for Australia from this, not from the wreckage of dismissal for 60 in just 111 balls before conceding a lead of 214 by the end of another breathless, turbo-charged day of modern Test cricket. It will take a miracle for Australia, such firm favourites before this series, to get out of this mess.
Test cricket? This made Twenty20 look positively pedestrian, more bonkers even than anything that happened at Edgbaston and destined to go down as one of the most remarkable days even in this great ground’s long and rich history.
Australia could not even last a whole Twenty20 innings, blown away in 18.3 overs by the perfect storm of Broad reach- ing new heights, outstanding catching in the slips and complete ineptitude from shellshocked Australian batsmen.
Broad, leading the England attack on his home ground because of injury to Anderson, began the day on 299 Test wickets yet just 94 minutes after taking the field in this fourth Investec Test he drew level with Fred Trueman on 307.
There is little to add to statistics that saw Broad reach his milestone with the third ball of the day before storming to figures that will be etched in Ashes history of eight for 15, with his first five wickets coming in a 17-ball spell.
Broad simply bowled intelligently, full and with a perfectly executed plan for each batsman, on a seaming pitch, and let the Australians push and prod their way towards oblivion. He remains the perfect man for the big occasion.
Then Root, destined to become not only England’s next captain but also one of their greatest batsmen, hit an eighth Test century that, so sweetly, was reached with a cut for four off the bowling of his old adversary David Warner.
The fact that Warner, the most part-time of medium-pacers, was bowling at all on the first day was a sad reflection of how bad Australia were, so poor that it is hard to see how Michael Clarke’s captaincy can possibly survive this.
Yet to ponder Australia’s incompetence is to take attention away from a rampant and quite brilliant performance from an England side who are maturing rapidly and breathtakingly under Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace.
This is undoubtedly the Ashes of extremes. Impossible to predict? It’s been impossible to believe. – Daily Mail