Everything went perfect and magical for England Cricket as in the first test against West Indies 19 wickets fell in a single day. And all were of the Indies. England emerged the winner by an innings and 209 runs.
Another limelight of the innings was Stuard Broad. He became the second-highest wicket-taker among Englishmen, overtaking Sir Ian Botham. It was Botham who handed Broad his Test cap in Colombo in December 2007. Only James Anderson leads ahead of him.
England scored 514 for eight and declared after fiery innings by Cook who scored 243 and Captain Root who scored another ton. But West Indies couldn’t stand stronger and fell out for 168 and 163 in the respective innings.
Broad played a huge part in this as he took three wickets for 34 runs in 10 overs, including a spell of three for four in 11 balls.
“Very remarkable, very pleasing,” Root told Sky Sports. “We talk about being ruthless. Stuart Broad has had a fantastic career… He has those spells in him where he can turn a game on its head.”
“It’s always nice to win and contribute to a big score. We bowled well today — Jimmy and Broady are world class,” he added.
With this loss, West Indies is yet to win a test against England since 2000. But captain Jason Holder seems confident.
“We have to just believe. It is not impossible, we can’t drop our heads on one game, the series is not lost,” he said.
Broad got elated to break Botham’s record and said: “He’s obviously been a hero of mine, someone who gave me my Test cap back in 2007 and someone who inspired me to play cricket for England with his performances. It’s very special to be up there in the ranks with him.”
Botham too couldn’t stop from congratulating the young lad. “Many congratulations ‘Broady’ great effort really pleased for you !!!! Better have a good glass or two of the finest !!!!” he tweeted.
“They add up pretty quickly. There have been some great memories along the way, certainly. You don’t really remember the wickets you take, you remember the Test matches you win and those special moments winning series. It’s a very special day, having the family here and being able to take a special wicket but it’s the Test series wins that you remember,” Broad concluded.
