Broad took his 500 Test wicket and Woakes a five-fer as England skittled West Indies for 129 to seal the Wisden Trophy
Related: Broad joins the 500 club: still angry, still fiery and still getting better | Andy Bull
Related: Stuart Broad says he's improving with age after 501st Test wicket
Related: Jason Holder hopes England will tour West Indies by end of the year
Right then, I’ll be off. It’s been, in the circumstances, an excellent series. Here’s to having one with fans, soonish. And here’s Vic Marks’ report on England’s victory. Bye!
In the end the West Indies, a noble team that has helped to rescue what might have been an utterly barren summer, ran out of steam. They were bowled out for 129 as briskly as the chill wind sweeping across the ground, occasionally bringing scudding showers. So England won the match by 269 runs and the series 2-1 to retain the Wisden Trophy forever.
Here the weather was England’s most troublesome opponent but for two Tests Jason Holder’s side has battled resolutely. Ultimately the shortcomings of batsmen in English conditions were exposed and their bowlers, a valiant quartet, were creaking after three Tests in swift succession. By contrast England’s bowlers, fresh and eager throughout, became ever more dominant. The strategy of rotating the bowlers has worked extremely well. None of them have bowled in more than two matches – not even Ben Stokes and Dom Bess, who played every game but were not required to bowl here.
Related: Broad reaches 500 as England demolish West Indies and regain Wisden Trophy
Broad is getting all sorts of virtual congratulations on the social media. Courtney Walsh incidentally sits sixth in the list of all-time Test wicket-takers, one place and 18 wickets ahead of the Englishman.
Congratulations to @StuartBroad8 on reaching 500 test wits hard work does pay off. I still remember you bowling to my son at Bristol when you both were kids.. well done and the sky is the limits next step 600.
And well done @StuartBroad8 A champions greatest quality is longevity. You are a true champion.
“To defend Sky’s stats folk, they said that this is the first 3-test series in England that England have come back from 1-0 to win, since 1888,” clarifies Tim Stafford.
Another good stat, and hopefully less quibblesome:
Test players with 3000+ runs and 500+ wickets
Shane Warne 3154+708 (0 100s)
Stuart Broad 3284+501 (one 100)#EngvWI#EngvsWI
Joe Root looks extremely chirpy:
I think the last two weeks we’ve been excellent. We’ve set out a gameplan and throughout the two games we executed it pretty well. Especially first game with the first-innings runs, and then this game I thought with the ball we were outstanding. You look at the talent that’s among those guys, and they offer a huge amount. I feel they could offer a lot on different surfaces around the world.
Over the course of two games to have such an impact is testament to how good a player he’s been for England for such a long period of time. You couldn’t be more happy for him, to finish the way it did today. Runs in the first innings, 10 wickets in the game, 500 Test match wickets, it’s a phenomenal achievement. It sums Stuart up. He seems to go on those hot streaks and have a real impact in games. Look at the second Test, he came on and made things happen when it seemed to go quite flat for a while. It’s the sort of player he is, he wants to be part of those big occasions.
He’s a guy who really grabs a game and wrestles it in your favour. Very good with the younger bowlers as well, more than happy to pass on his experience and advice to them. We’re looking at two of England’s greatest bowlers of all time and to play in the same team as both of them, we’ve got to understand how lucky we are right now to be watching them go about their business, playing alongside them, seeing them operate, there couldn’t be a better place for a young player to come in and learn their trade as a fast bowler, and it’s a real privilege to play alongside both Jimmy and Stuart, and hopefully it’s going to happen for a lot longer as well.
And here’s Holder on life in bio-secure bubbles:
It’s been challenging. It has been really challenging. And maybe some of the guys are a bit worn out as well. We’ve been here four weeks prior to the first Test, we had a change in environment going to Southampton, but then to come back to Manchester, to be with the same people in the same place, in the same rooms, was a bit difficult. It could be this way for a little while, so we’ve got to find a way to make it easier. But it has been challenging mentally, for sure.
Jason Holder performs his autopsy:
We didn’t get the runs we were probably looking for. I felt the wickets were good enough here to at least put up a bigger first-innings effort in both Test matches. We had plenty of starts, quite a few guys got half-centuries but didn’t kick on. I think the difference with England, when Stokes got in he went big, Sibley got in and went big. Unfortunately we didn’t do that. Our bowlers tried, in very tough conditions, but credit to all of them. I must always commend them for the effort they gave and I think it was not as bad as it looks.
We won the first match and we won it with our best team. Trying to clinch the series you try to put up your best team all the time. We just tried to back the best team to do the job for us.
We’ve got to wait and see what happens next in terms of the calendar. We’re not sure what’s going to happen. It’s been a blessing to come over here and actually get some cricket. Everything’s so uncertain. But looking at the cricket we just need our batters to get a bit more runs and convert some of the starts they’re making. I can’t ask the bowlers to do much more than they’ve done for us so far.
I’ve checked, Tim’s right - England lost the first Test to New Zealand in Hamilton in March 2008, but won the second and third in Wellington and Napier. More details here.
“Sky statistics are rubbish then,” rages Tim Reston. “We came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 in a three-Test series in 2008. Stuart Broad played in the last two Tests.”
Sky show a nice slow-motion end-of-series montage and then come back to ... interview Stuard Broad a bit more, but in a different location.
It’s absolutely pouring in Manchester now, so England’s timing was as smart as their bowling.
Broad is still talking. He’s kept the ball from the first innings, when he took six wickets, but thinks Woakes has the ball from the second innings, when he claimed a five-fer.
Cricket at the top level is quite relentless, we do play a huge amount. I was disappointed when I stopped playing white-ball cricket but I think it’s paying dividends now. I feel fresh, I feel excited every time I put the England cap on to get into a Test match series. I’ve been fortunate with my injury record and I think that’s played a big part in that. Fast bowling’s hard. I think Test cricket in general is hard. It really is, it just keeps coming at you, but I think that’s why we love it. It’s something addictive, to do the hard work you put in, away from the game and on matchdays, that leads to Test match wins. You do go through massive highs, you go through huge lows, but the key to it is trying to remain as level as possible through it all.
“According to the Sky Statto this would be the first time since 1888 that England have come from behind to win a three match series (out of 95 attempts),” says Brian Withington. History. We’ve witnessed history.
More from Broad, and very well said:
It would be wrong of me not to say a huge thankyou to the West Indies team, because without them, the sacrifice they made, coming over on the third or fourth of June, living biosecure for that amount of time, this summer wouldn’t be possible without them so a huge thankyou from all of our players to the Windies, because they’ve been heroes of this summer so far.
Broad has a chat with Sky:
We’re delighted with that. The batsmen have set it up for us again. When you’ve got scoreboard pressure like that it means so much to the bowling unit, and we were relentless. I think each bowler in this attack brings something slightly different, and you saw that with changes of spells, bowlers were able to have an immediate impact and that’s just down to tiny little changes in our actions, our alignments, our heights. I think we all bowled really well together as a group.
It was so windy out there that actually it felt if we got a shower it was going to go through really quickly. But we said this morning we’re going to have to bowl really well here, we’re going to have to be disciplined, because we needed eight wickets to win and we didn’t know if we would definitely get 98 overs to do that.
That’s 10 in the match for Broad, plus a crucial first-innings half-century, and he can probably look forward to being named man of the series having played in only two-thirds of it, and absolutely bank on a man of the match award.
Biggest Test wins for England vs West Indies (by runs)
269 Manchester 2020 *
256 Port of Spain 1959/60
256 Edgbaston 2004
232 Gros Islet 2018/19
217 Edgbaston 1963
210 Lord's 2004#ENGvWI
Broad comes back, and gets Blackwood with his first delivery to bring an end to it!
37th over: West Indies 129-9 ( Blackwood 23, Gabriel 0) Target 399. Woakes bowls short and Blackwood top-edges way over Buttler for four, and then cracks the next through cover for four more. Listen, I might delete the target bit from the scoreline. I’m just not sure it’s relevant information at this stage. It could be any number, really.
36th over: West Indies 120-9 ( Blackwood 13, Gabriel 0) Target 399. There are now five bowlers who have taken double-digits wickets in this series, of whom the top two - Broad (15) and Woakes (11, level with Gabriel) have only played in two matches. Archer, who has done likewise, is currently marooned on four and doesn’t really threaten No5 here.
35th over: West Indies 119-9 ( Blackwood 13, Gabriel 0) Target 399. Take away the run out and the last 12 West Indies wickets in this match have fallen to, in chronological order:
Broad
Broad
Broad
Broad
Broad
Broad
Broad
Woakes
Woakes
Woakes
Woakes
Woakes
Woakes claims his five-fer with a delivery almost identical to the one that did for Dowrich!
Dowrich is caught just below the knee, and doesn’t bother reviewing!
34th over: West Indies 117-7 ( Blackwood 13, Dowrich 8) Target 399. Blackwood has settled nicely here, and is playing some nice shots. “As an occasional, drop-in OBOer, I have enjoyed today’s effort by the team,” writes Craig McEwan in deepest, darkest Peru. “The Bakewell slices discussion was a masterclass of OBO-ness. Thanks to everyone for the entertainment.” Bless.
33rd over: West Indies 113-7 ( Blackwood 9, Dowrich 8) Target 399. Hello everyone! The greatest Test series never seen (by a live audience) reaches its conclusion today. It’s England v the weather v West Indies v themselves, winner tbc.
And that’s it from me, I hand you over to Simon Burnton to take you through to the bitter/glorious end. Bye!
32nd over: West Indies 108-7 ( Blackwood 8, Dowrich 7) Target 399. England should know better than to challenge Michael Gough: Blackwood wafts at a short one from Archer and Buttler and Root behind the stumps are sure he’s got an edge. Gough says no, England review - unsuccessfully.
31st over: West Indies 107-7 ( Blackwood 8, Dowrich 7) Target 399. A tasty drive straight down the ground by Dowrich for four; Woakes retaliates with a bouncer.
“Hi Tanya,” Hi Kerrith Britland!
30th over: West Indies 101-7 ( Blackwood 5, Dowrich 1) Target 399. Archer busies through another over without luck.
So true. If England regain the Wisden Trophy today, Joe Root should invite Jason Holder to lift it with him @tjaldredhttps://t.co/CkEuChBhyN
29th over: West Indies 99-7 ( Blackwood 4) Target 399. Holder goes down on one knee to drive an away swinger from Woakes for four. Pizzazz! And then, Pizzozz. He had earlier survived a strange England review against him that was neither caught behind (it didn’t hit the pad) or lbw (hitting outside leg). No matter, he’s now back in the dressing room.
A forlorn review from Holder, the ball hit him not too high and at a perfect length. Superb bowling from Woakes, and Windies are down to 9, 10, Jack.
28th over: West Indies 89-6 ( Blackwood 4, Holder 1) Target 399. I KNOW the crowd isn’t gently murmuring but it is so convincing I fall for it over and over, even as I look at the empty seats. Blackwood resists the temptation to do anything daft to Archer, who digs his last ball in short and Blackwood blocks down into the on side.
27 overs: West Indies 88-6 ( Blackwood 4, Holder 1) Target 399. The clouds are piling up behind the pavilion as Woakes finishes off his rain-affected over. Holder drives nicely through the covers and the batsmen go through for a swift and unnecessary single.
The players are out again.
To return to Stuart Broad, whose dad Chris is match referee for today’s match so was here to see him take his 500th wicket.
@tjaldred Do we think of Broad as the greatest all-rounder that never was (pre-Aaron trying to rearrange his cranium, he was not a million miles away from Flintoff's career average) or simply a genuine bowler for whom batting was a distraction in his early to early middle period?
What a silly run out by West Indies, a run they didn’t have to take, against a ball that had been safely batted away. Superb by Bess who swooped, then twisted, to throw the ball to the striker’s end. This will be a short squall I think.
An amazing direct hit by Bess who threw in the air and on the turn from backward point. The Windies are having a shocker!
26 overs: West Indies 87-5 ( Blackwood 4, Chase 7) Target 399. I’m wondering why no-one on the England team has opted for the shaven haired look? Surely they could have taken the clippers to each other within the bio-secure bubble - there are some serious mullets knocking around - looking at you Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and Sam Curran. Only Jofra Archer is has short locks, and just one comes off his over.
25 overs: West Indies 86-5 ( Blackwood 3, Chase 7) Target 399. Chase pushes Woakes through the covers and they come through for a couple as the clouds skid over the Old Trafford skies.
24 overs: West Indies 84-5 ( Blackwood 1, Chase 4) Target 399. Archer finishes his over with three dots as the OBO threatens to eat itself. “Good afternoon,” taps Adam Giles. “Shouldn’t there be a comma between “Hi” and “Depending”? (13:30)“
There’s just been a lovely segment on Sky, a chat between Anderson, Broad, Botham and the dear-departed Bob Willis. I read his 1978 county diary for this Spin, should anyone be interested
Related: The Spin | County cricket's life-affirming return is perfect tribute to Bob Willis
“Hi Depending on the number of pedants, an apostrophe would be a good idea.” I knew it....
Apologies, I clean forgot to look at Twitter this morning. This, from Gary Naylor, is pitch perfect.
The West Indies leave a safe home for an uncertain destination, live weeks in a bubble, deal with aches, pains, Broad and Anderson and are still in with a shout of the Wisden Trophy on the last day @tjaldred.
Regardless of today's result, I salute and thank Jason Holder and co
Pedants’ Corner
James Starling would “like to redress the repeated misspelling of dear old Frederich’s last name. It’s Nietzsche (and Nietzscherian). 7am in Chicago btw.”
“David Hopkins disappointingly wants to bring a nationalistic Neitzcheian critique to the party,” types Steve Hudson furiously.“ I’d like to redress the balance with my recent polemic: Lord Beefy - Betrayal Of The English Working Class: A Vic Marksist Dialectic.
And for what it’s worth, the correct conclusion is Almond Slices.”
23.3 overs: West Indies 84-5 ( Blackwood 1, Chase 4) Target 399. “Raining in Timperley now so should be with you in 10 minutes or so,” warns Marcus Adams. It’s quicker than that! The players run off the pitch and the hover cover floats to the middle in the flick of a wrist.
23rd over: West Indies 83-5 ( Blackwood 1, Chase 4) Target 399. Sorry, squabbling children being a complete pain in front of the television, but nothing much to report.
Adam Hirst has good news for Dave Godman. “Hey Tanya – you can tell Dave Godman that I’ll ask me dad. He was there. He might even remember if we’re lucky.As for Pete Salmon. Oh Pete… Schoolboy Errors on Bakewells and Chappells. How is anyone ever going to trust him again?”
22nd over: West Indies 81-5 ( Blackwood 1, Chase 4) Target 399. Blackwood wafts at Archer in a not completely convincing way.
21st over: West Indies 79-5 ( Blackwood, 0 Chase 3) Target 399. Can West Indies salvage something from this? Seems doubtful but let’s see what Blackwood and Chase can do.
An inside-edge as West Indies capitulate towards an early finish. A loose shot really from Brooks and a second for Woakes this morning.
20th over: West Indies 76-4 (Brooks 22, Chase 0 ) Target 399. Brooks unwittingly nudges Archer down to the third man for four and then survives the rest of the over.
“I’m unhappy with both Robert Wilson and Peter Salmon’s prospectuses, and don’t feel they merit the use of the OBO’s limited bakewell tart budget,” typesDavid Hopkins, reaching deep into the biscuit barrel. “I’d be happy to provide a module on Neitszche’s Superman concept, which is clearly informed by Viv Richards and 2005-vintage Flintoff. Happy also to complement this with discussion of whether what doesn’t kill you actually does make you stronger, with reference to Kelly Clarkson’s development of the concept.”
19th over: West Indies 72-4 (Brooks 14, Chase 0 ) Target 399. A terrible shot by Hope.
Oh Shai! From the sublime to a bog-standard toe-end skew, to Broad running in at mid-on who takes an awkward catch high up by his shoulders.
18th over: West Indies 68-3 (Brooks 14, Hope 31) Target 399. A double change as Archer gets his first bowl of the day. Hope watches for a couple of deliveries but then unwraps two cover-drives of the highest quality - think expensive Christmas praline truffles in ridiculously OTT packaging.
17th over: West Indies 60-3 (Brooks 14, Hope 23) Target 399. Root decides it is time for a change and Woakes springs into the attack. Brooks slices him through gully for four first ball - not sure how deliberate that was.
“Not to take issue with Peter Salmon,” sniff Matt Robbins, “ but he’s a splitter. Surely we OBOers agreed a few days ago - Bakewell Slices.”
16th over: West Indies 54-3 (Brooks 8, Hope 23) Target 399 At the end of his run Broad consults Anderson about a minutiae of this or that. A couple of balls later, Brooks, square drives for four, all monocle and top hat.
David Godman was there for another milestone moment:“I remember as a boy of eleven watching Fred Trueman take his 300th test wicket on TV, coming out after lunch on a hattrick and 299 wickets. The commentator said the pubs around the ground had all emptied as locals piled in to see if he could reach the landmark in style. Those were the days when you could, on a whim, wander along to an Oval Ashes match ticketless during the lunch break and still expect to get in for the afternoon session. Is there anywhere to check crowd attendances for that day (August 15th, 1964) to see what kind of crowd surge there might have been?”
15 overs: West Indies 48-3 (Brooks 3, Hope 22) Target 399 A maiden from Anderson. Incidentally, Broad has picked up the last seven wickets that West Indies have lost.
“While reminiscing about the OBO it would seem remiss not to point out that the OBOcassionals cricket team is still going strong,” writes Nicholas Clark. “This year’s tour is of course off but so far we have trekked to Estonia, Finland, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, Hungary and various spots of the UK. More players are of course welcome”
14 overs: West Indies 48-3 (Brooks 3, Hope 22) Target 399 Of all the blocks of 100 wickets, the block that took Broad from 400-500 came at the lowest average and the lowest strike rate. Put that in your pipe Ed Smith and tell him you’re planning for the future.
The 500th! Broad squares Brathwaite up, and the ball squirts up to hit him on the back pad. A happy, happy bowler is congratulated by his team-mates with a special half man-hug from his old mucker Anderson. For reasons of symmetry, it is very pleasing that Brathwaite was Anderson’s 500 wicket too.
13 overs: West Indies 41-2 (Brathwaite 15, Hope 22) Target 399 Hope drives Anderson through the covers, with a sharp swish of the bat, and the ball floats for four. In the slips, trousers are flapping.
“I note with some sorrow that you have given oxygen to the lunatic rantings of one Robert Wilson in the 11th over, who presumes to speak as the moral compass that OBO requires,” huffs Peter Salmon. “No, no and a thousand times no. Having attended his IVA Richards Studies (The One True Way) back in the 90s, all I can say is his grasp of both deontology and Antiguan historiography is at best scant, at worst perverse. It would ill behove me to put myself forward of course, although my study ‘Greg Chappell, the Underarm and post-Kantian Ethics’ is still seen as groundbreaking in the fields of gender studies and the politics of alterity. A small retainer would be sufficient, indexed to my need for bakewell tarts.”
12 overs: West Indies 35-2 (Brathwaite 15, Hope 16) Target 399 Broad’s half-completed over is completed without incident. During the rain break, we learn that Stuart Broad spent half an hour talking to the young West Indian quicks about bowling yesterday. From master to apprentice.
The sheets are off at Old Trafford and the tractor is circling with rope - which always seems a terribly low-fi way of mopping up but I guess it works.
Dom Smith has tickled a few OBOers.“Dom Smith has the right idea, just not ambitious enough, writes Anthony Farmer. “ I used to live in SW Virginia and (frustrated by the Spring NASCAR race always being rained out) there was talk of putting a roof on Bristol Motor Speedway. 600 foot straights and grandstands 21 stories high! Presumably this would also have involved the world’s most powerful extractor fans or else 162,000 inebriated race fans would have been asphyxiated in double quick time.
Short and sweet from Andy Bradshaw:
“Broad and Jimmy looking utterly innocuous. We’re doooooooomed.”
Don’t worry, I won’t tell them where you live.
And to Headingley, where Sam Charlton is on duty. “Good Morning Tanya, Here’s to a fabulous day of cricket. I hope West Indies do try and put up a fight.”
11.3 overs: West Indies 35-2 (Brathwaite 15, Hope 16) Target 399 Broad demands a mid-off and gets a mid-off; Brathwaite clips him for four through mid-on, it starts raining and the players zoot off the field. I don’t think we’ll be off for too long though. Ground sheets are carried out to the middle, billowing in the gusts.
11th over: West Indies 29-2 (Brathwaite 9, Hope 16) Target 399 Of the two, Anderson looking the more dangerous this morning. I wait to be proved completely wrong. He beats Hope with one that nips in and, somehow, I don’t know how, just misses everything that it should have hit.
“Before we drown in waves of Guy Hornsby’s clubbable sentimentality,” snarls Robert Wilson,” may I point out that almost everyone who writes into the OBO is palpably evil, flagrantly diagnosable or, at the very least, in the throes of lunatic paroxysms of identity theft (that MacMillings bloke covers all three). There’s serious bad feeling about DRS, a pernicious nostalgia for sociopathic Aussie quicks of the ‘70s and generally unacceptable levels of perviness about the blameless and upright Ian Bell. What the OBO needs more than anything is a moral guide and ethical lodestar. Just to let you know that there’s a sudden window in my availability. I have considerable experience and am board-certified in IVA Richards Studies (The One True Way).”
10th over: West Indies 21-2 (Brathwaite 8, Hope 9) Target 399 Broad roars out a two-armed lbw appeal against Brathwaite, but it hits him high on the thigh and Root is is not interested. Brathwaite strides forward, shows the next ball the full face of the bat, and sends it tumbling away for four.
9th over: West Indies 16-2 (Brathwaite 4, Hope 8) Target 399 A gorgeous length from Anderson has Brathwaite prodding awkwardly in defence.
“Were it in my ambit, I would willingly give you Lyon’s sun in exchange for Manchester’s squally damp and probable showers, for the sake of a great day’s cricket,” writes Alistair Connell, safe in the embrace of southern France.
8th over: West Indies 14-2 (Brathwaite 2, Hope 8) Target 399 The main man has the ball from the Brian Statham end. White hankerchief bandana, hair and shirt flapping in the wind. Hope throws the bat at a wide one and it flies away to the third man boundary.
7th over: West Indies 10-2 (Brathwaite 2, Hope 4) Target 399 From the Jimmy Anderson end, it is... Jimmy Anderson. A strong westerly wind is storming across Old Trafford - Anderson said pre-start how much more difficult he has found bowling at Old Trafford since they switched the pitch around. His fourth ball is a beauty, keeping a little bit low and passing Brathwaite’s outside edge. A maiden.
“Dom Smith’s idea is a good one in principle,” pens Tom Atkins,“but I can’t see how you can make it fit. The width of the Millennium Stadium pitch is 79m, so your boundaries won’t be more than 40m from the centre of the wicket. ICC rule 20.1.3 of Men’s Match Playing Conditions states that boundaries should be no less than 59.43 metres from the centre of the pitch. So the pitch would only be two thirds of the size required and I think you’d end up with a boundary so short as to fundamentally alter the game being played.”
Oh! Such a lovely message from Guy Hornsby.
“Can I just say how much I enjoyed yesterday’s OBO? And I didn’t even read it until this morning. I had all sorts going on and only really read a few entries but I couldn’t not get to today without getting up to speed. That’s how much of a cricket companion it is to so many of us. I started back in 2005, and can’t imagine cricket without it. It’s so ephemeral really, seeing those you’ve never met as old friends, such is those recurring names, (though I’ve actually met messrs Naylor, Smyth, Nair, Frame and a few others way back when in a pub one Sunday), and also every new poster or lurker, wrapped up like a warm comfort blanket that arrives like green tops in May. Likewise the Guardian writers, all heroes of the OBO. I still get that frisson of excitement when something’s published. I hope that never goes. YOU LOT.”
Michael Atherton reports a strong westerly wind and possible showers on the radar this morning - something for which Dom Smith proposes a solution.
“To get around the weather problem and seeing as everything is changing by the day, how about playing all Tests in the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff with the roof closed. They could have a drop in strip in the centre and short boundaries (i.e. the touch lines) would be the same for both teams.”
“Morning Tanya”
Morning Matt Winter!
Just been for a quick stroll - the best word I can think of to describe the Manchester weather this morning is “autumnal.”
Some emails have already slithered into my inbox.
Weather update: The covers are still on at Old Trafford, but the rain has stayed away for now. There’s even the odd bit of sun, and hopes are high that we’ll get started on time.
For anyone involved in the enjoyable OBO debate yesterday about the 2005 attack v 2020 vintage, here is Vic’s take - albeit referencing 2008.
Related: Broad and England can call on spirit of 2008 in hunt for final-day victory
Here we go again! Welcome to the final day of the Test series between England and West Indies with the series still poised 1-1 after yesterday’s washout. Farewell too, to the Wisden trophy, which enjoys one last day in the sun before retiring to a great wall cabinet either in Antigua or London. All depends, probably, on the Manchester weather which, as I write this 90 minutes before play is due to start, is squally with a hint of damp.
There is a fifty per cent chance of rain between about 1 and 3 o’clock, so England will want to wrap this up quickly. Stuart Broad needs no encouragement - just one wicket away from becoming only the second England cricketer ever to reach 500 wickets. Incidentally, for anyone interested in this sort of trivia, his 100th Test wicket was Mahela Jayawardene , 200th Michael Clarke, 300th Chris Rogers and 400th Tom Latham.
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