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If, like me, you only go to one day of live Test cricket each year, my advice is to make sure you choose a day that produces 288 runs, 10 wickets, a ton, two fifties and a blistering Stuart Broad hatrick that rips the roof off the stadium halfway through the final session. Otherwise I’m afraid it hardly seems worth it.
We felt a little while ago that these tickets would give us a decent chance of witnessing Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international hundred and in accordance with Eagle’s specific instructions India began the second day’s play at Trent Bridge with one wicket down and the Little Master waiting to come in…
Morning Session
After several hours in the car we took our seats in the Radcliffe Road Stand at long-off/fine leg with two of the game’s finest batsmen, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, at the crease. Four successive balls were dispatched to the boundary as Anderson and Broad struggled to find the right length but Strauss kept his attacking field which meant that on the fast outfield any well-placed shot went all the way – and there were some very well-placed shots in the first hour. Laxman brought up his fifty with his tenth four, driven through extra cover, and just when it seemed there was no hope for England, along came Big Tim Bresnan.
(Ed: Of the six people in our group I was the only one who thought the selectors were right to bring in Bresnan instead of Steve Finn. Now I’m not saying that Steve Finn definitely wouldn’t have taken five wickets and scored 90 in the second innings, but I’m mightily pleased that Big Bres did.)
Anyway, Bresnan got one to bounce and move away from Laxman who very kindly edged it behind to Matt Prior and the partnership was finally broken. That wicket brought in Sachin Tendulkar to a standing ovation from the Trent Bridge crowd, many of whom were willing him to reach that century landmark. Then a slightly odd period of play before lunch saw Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott bowling at Dravid and Tendulkar - unsurprisingly there were no more wickets.
Afternoon Session
The return of the proper bowlers after lunch seemed to put a spark back into the England team and Tendulkar’s promising innings was cut short when he edged to Strauss at first slip. So no hundredth hundred this time, but for all we know it might have been the sixteenth time he’s scored 16.
The news just kept getting better for England: after Sachin’s dismissal Raina never looked comfortable and guided a wide long hop straight to Morgan at point, then Jonathan Trott landed painfully on his shoulder while fielding in the covers and was unable to bowl again. But just as it seemed England were really on top, Yuvraj Singh slashed Broad to gully and KP put it down. At this point India were still 80 runs behind but over the next hour and a half that missed chance looked as if it would prove costly.
Spurred on by the loud, irritating twat on the balcony behind us, Dravid and Yuvraj put on 128 runs spanning the tea interval. Dravid scored plenty in the vacant third man region (as did Bell the next day and many others in this game) and brought up his 34th Test hundred with a sweep off Graeme Swann who, like Jimmy Anderson, bowled well below his best and leaked runs all over the wicket. Swann didn’t seem to pose any kind of threat and his 12 overs cost 76 runs on a wicket that rendered Harbhajan Singh equally pointless for the tourists.
Yuvraj, having been dropped on four, passed fifty as India breezed past England’s first innings total and looked set to bat well into the weekend.
Evening Session
As enjoyable as Indian’s batting had been we all agreed that the day would be made a whole lot better if England could manage a really good session - nothing beats a good batting collapse after all. The period of play after tea was initially uneventful but then the bowlers got the boost they needed: the new ball.
Stuart Broad had been rested during the afternoon lull and he returned to the attack with fire in his eyes and steel in his balls. Yuvraj was the first to go, caught behind, and in Broad’s next over MS Dhoni, who clearly hadn’t settled, edged to Strauss for just 5. The crowd reacted with enthusiasm, the noise levels increased and Trent Bridge was buzzing as Harbhajan came to the crease to face his first ball. It also turned out to be his last ball as Broad beat him for pace and 20,000 people appealed for LBW. The umpire agreed and the ground went wild again. We were witnessing something very special indeed.
Now, no one came to Trent Bridge hoping to see a huge innings from Praveen Kumar. Kumar is expendable, like the Star Trek dude in the red shirt on the away mission to the dangerous planet Broad. As Kumar took his guard and looked nervously about, everyone in the stadium knew what was about to happen; everyone was on their feet already. To a deafening roar Stuart Broad pounded in, found the perfect line and length and the stumps were shattered. It was fucking awesome.
Such was the excitement in the ground at the time, we all believed he could make it four from four, and the way he hammered into Ishant Sharma you knew he believed it too. The ball was fast and full again but slightly down the leg side and Sharma poked it away with mighty relief. Broad had to settle for a treble-wicket-maiden and a standing ovation from the Nottingham crowd.
At this point Dravid realised he needed to go on the attack but at the first attempt he slashed a wide ball from Bresnan straight to the newly-installed third man. Fifteen minutes earlier India had been in control, 46 runs ahead with only four wickets down. Suddenly they had lost five wickets for six runs! The last pair swung the bat and added another 15 before Broad appropriately took the final wicket to finish on 6-46.
Ticket for the Test match: £60After a fourth consecutive failure for Alastair Cook (Ed: drop him!) England finished the day on exactly the same score, 24-1, as India had started it, but still trailed in the match by 43 runs.
Petrol from Reading to Nottingham: £45
Seeing Broad take a Test hatrick against the number 1 team in the world: £105
Don't let those bastards at MasterCard make you believe that shit comes for free
The Aftermath
Having watched the channel 5 highlights (predominantly to see if we were on telly) I have now seen the enormous inside edge that Harbhajan knew he’d got onto his pads so I understand why he looked so distraught to be given out. But as they said on the TV, he only really has his own cricket board to blame for that one after they vetoed the use of the review system for LBW decisions. I wonder if the noise inside the stadium was partly responsible for the umpire missing the knick, in which case I’ll claim an assist too.
England have bowled out the number one Test side in the world for less than 300 in every innings of this series so far and have exposed a fragile tail that arguably starts with a shattered-looking MS Dhoni at number seven (Ed: recent innings at Edgbaston excepted of course). With both Anderson and Swann well below their best it needed someone else to put in a dominant display and wrestle back control from the Indian batsmen, and Stuart Broad’s spell of 16 balls, five wickets for no runs is about as dominant as you can get.
To add a note of caution: Stuart Broad was the final victim of the previous Test hatrick (Peter Siddle in Brisbane) so if the chain is to be continued that means that Praveen Kumar is due to take the next one.
What happened over the next two days further emphasised how Broad’s incredible spell turned the match around - India didn’t win another session and ended up soundly beaten.
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