Ashes Stat Attack: Stuart Broad finishes with 153 Test wickets vs Australia, most by any bowler | Cricket News

Stuart Broad has bid adieu to international cricket, bringing the curtain down on what has been a glittering Test career. Broad became a ‘Test specialist’, sometime around 2016. That was when he last played an ODI. His last T20I appearance was way back in 2014.

But in Test cricket, Broad will be remembered as one of the all time most successful fast bowlers. He is currently 5th on the all-time list of most wickets in Test cricket.
As Broad took the last 2 Aussie wickets to help England wrap up a 49 run win in the last Ashes Test at the Oval that made the scoreline 2-2, Australia were denied a first Test series win in England since 2001, but Pat Cummins and co. will be taking the urn back to Australia.

After the 2-2 result in the latest Ashes series, TimesofIndia.com here takes a look at some of the most interesting statistics that emerged from this series:
# In his last Test at The Oval, Stuart Broad took his tally to 22 at 28.40 runs apiece with a strike rate of 50.2 – the most by an England bowler in the Ashes 2023.
# Broad’s career wickets’ tally of 604 at an average of 27.68 in 167 Tests includes 153 at 28.96 runs apiece in 40 Tests vs Australia – the most by any bowler against them.

# He has become the first player ever to hit a six off (Mithell Starc) his farewell delivery and took a wicket (Alex Carey) off his final ball in Tests.
# Alex Carey has affected 26 dismissals (21 catches plus five stumpings) – his career-best performance. He is the sixth Australian wicketkeeper to effect 25 dismissals or more in a series, joining Adam Gilchrist (thrice) and Ian Healy (thrice), Rodney Marsh, Tim Paine & Brad Haddin.

# Carey has affected 43 dismissals (36 catches plus seven stumpings) in eleven Tests – the most by a wicketkeeper in Tests this year.
# Steven Smith has registered 25 fifty-plus innings (12 centuries plus 13 fifties) to become the third batter to accomplish the feat against England, joining Sir Donald Bradman (31 – 19 + 12) and Allan Border (29 – 8 + 21).
# Usman Khawaja‘s run-aggregate of 496 at an average of 49.60, including a hundred and three fifties, is the highest on either side in The Ashes 2023. He has become the first batter to manage 1,000-plus runs in Tests this year – 1037 at an average of 54.57, including three hundreds and five fifties, in eleven Tests.

# Chris Woakes registered an average of 18.15 while claiming 19 wickets in just three Tests at a strike rate of 35.7 – the best by any bowler in the Ashes 2023.23.
# David Warner and Usman Khawaja were associated in a stand of 140 in the fourth innings – the highest first-wicket partnership and the only century stand in The Ashes 2023. The said partnership remains the highest opening stand in either innings in a losing cause in The Ashes.
# For the second time in an Ashes series, not even a single batter got run out – the only previous instance being the five-Test series in Australia in 1998-99. These two Ashes series are the only ones consisting of five Tests when not even a single batter was dismissed run out.

# Nineteen times, a score of 200-plus was accomplished in the series – a record for any five-Test series. In the six-Test Ashes series in 1993, 21 totals of
200-plus were witnessed.
# Zak Crawley‘s aggregate of 480 at an average of 53.33, including a hundred and two fifties, in nine innings, at a strike rate of 88.72 is not only his career-best performance in a Test series but also the highest by an England batter in the series.
# Joe Root’s runs’ tally is now 6092 at an average of 53.43, including 18 hundreds & 29 fifties in 72 Tests in England. He has become the ninth batter to complete 6,000 runs or more in Tests at home. He has joined Ricky Ponting (7578), Sachin Tendulkar (7216), Mahela Jayawardene (7167), Jacques Kallis (7035), Kumar Sangakkara (6830), Alastair Cook (6568), Brian Lara (6217) & Shivnarine Chanderpaul (6187).
# The match-aggregate of 1307 for the loss of 40 wickets is the third highest total in the Ashes at The Oval – the highest remains 1494 for the loss of 37 wickets in 1934.
# Harry Brook registered his highest score (85 off 91 balls) vs Australia in Tests, eclipsing the 75 at Leeds in the just concluded series. He had become the first batter to post four fifty-plus innings in the 2023 series.

# Brook enjoys an excellent average (62.15) in his first twelve Tests, aggregating 1181, including four hundreds and seven fifties, at an excellent strike rate of 91.76.
# Broad took 38 wickets at an average of 24.63, including a five-wicket haul, in eight Tests – the most by any pacer in Tests this year.
# Todd Murphy (4/110) has produced his best bowling performance in the Ashes – his second best overall behind the 7 for 124 vs India at Nagpur in February this year.
# Broad is one of the five bowlers to have claimed 150-plus wickets against an opponent – Shane Warne (195), Dennis Lillee (167), Curtly Ambrose (164) & Glenn McGrath (157) – all vs England and Broad (153 vs Australia).
# Ben Stokes hit fifteen sixes in five Tests, setting a record for most sixes in the Ashes series, overtaking the 14 by Kevin Pietersen in the five-Test series in 2005.

# With Alex Carey’s catch off Joe Root, Ben Stokes, with his 100th catch, has become the third all-rounder to complete the triple of 6000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches – the first two being Garry Sobers and Jacques Kallis.
# Ben Stokes is the eleventh England fielder to take 100 catches or more in Tests. Joe Root’s tally of 183 catches in 135 matches is the highest for England.

# Mitchell Starc’s tally at 27.08 runs apiece in just four Tests – the most by any bowler in the Ashes 2023. The said performance is his best in the Ashes and the second best overall behind the 24 (ave 15.16) in the three-Test series vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in 2016.
Stats Courtesy: Rajesh Kumar