Stuart Broad joined one of cricket’s most exclusive clubs when he took his 500th Test wicket on Tuesday as England registered a series-clinching win over the West Indies at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Broad finished with 10 wickets in the decider, and 16 wickets in the series after being dropped for the first of the three matches that marked the return of international cricket post-coronavirus shutdown.
The 34-year-old became just the seventh bowler and fourth pacer to reach the landmark when he had opener Kraigg Brathwaite plumb lbw for 19 on the fifth day of the third Test.
Broad, playing in his 140th Test, had been stranded on 499 wickets when, after he had already taken eight in this match, rain washed out the whole of Monday’s fourth day.
He reached the 500-mark on Tuesday when a full-length ball struck Brathwaite’s back pad, with the opener not bothering to review umpire Michael Gough’s decision because he was so clearly out.
Fittingly, he also picked up the last wicket to fall, that of Jermaine Blackwood, who was caught down the leg side.
Brathwaite was also the dismissed batsman when James Anderson, Broad’s longstanding England new-ball colleague, took his 500th Test wicket, at Lord’s in September 2017. Broad took the first three West Indies wickets to fall in their second innings of this match.
Any chance he might take all 10 in an innings, as England off-spinner Jim Laker did against Australia in the Old Trafford Test of 1956, ended soon afterwards when Broad caught Shai Hope off Chris Woakes.
Broad had already taken 6/31 in West Indies’ meagre first innings 197 made in reply to England’s 369. Batting at No 10, he also scored a dashing 62 runs in that innings.
Angered by his controversial omission from the England side that lost the first Test at Southampton, he marked his return to Test duty with six wickets in England’s 113-run series levelling win over the West Indies, also at Old Trafford
Anderson, 38 on Thursday, is closing in on 600 Test wickets. But speaking before play at his Lancashire home ground on Tuesday, he said Broad could surpass his eventual tally.
“I just think the way Stuart has bowled the last two game has been absolutely phenomenal,” Anderson told Sky Sports. “I am always amazed how he gets into a spell and blows people away. He could end up with more wickets than me.”
Here are reactions to Broad picking up his 500th wicket in Tests:
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