Ashes 2015, 4th Test at Trent Bridge: Statistical report

England regained the Ashes taking an unsurpassable 3-1 lead by dishing out an innings defeat to Australia in the fourth test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The Test produced several significant records, milestones and statistics; Bharath Seervi presents a statistical report of the match.

The first three Tests of Ashes 2015 in England had alternate winners. England won the first Test at Cardiff by 169 runs; Australia bounced back strongly to win the second Test at Lord’s by a huge margin of 405 runs; in the third Test at Edgbaston England took the lead after an eight-wicket lead. With James Anderson out of the fourth Test, there was hope for Australia bouncing back, but the Test was over after a dramatic first session.

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Australia had a horrific start after being put in by Alastair Cook. Both openers fell for ducks. There was no Anderson, but Broad did more than what anyone would have expected. His 8 for 15 finished Australia’s first innings for a mere 60 well before lunch. England took a lead of 331 before declaring on 391 for 9 thanks to Joe Root’s 130. READ: Cricket needs men like Ben Stokes

Trailing by a huge margin, Australia started well with both openers scoring half-centuries and putting on a century stand. But there was no resistance after that. The middle-order batsmen collapsed in no time and it seemed the Test match would end the second day! Though that was not possible due to bad light,  it took England a mere 10 overs on Day Three to complete the formalities. Ben Stokes was their star in the second inning with six wickets. England took an unbeatable lead of 3-1 after four tests and regained the Ashes. READ: Steve Smith must lead Australia against England in 5th Ashes 2015 Test at The Oval

There were important milestones and records in the three days’ play of this fourth Ashes Test. Let’s see them in the statistical report below.

Chris Rogers’ maiden duck: Rogers fell for a duck, the first of his Test career, in the third ball of the Test. Having announced his retirement after this Ashes, he had the chance to end up his career without a duck. He had overhauled Jim Burke’s record of most innings without a duck, but after his duck, the record goes back to Burke. READ: Michael Clarke lived by the sword and died by it

Stuart Broad’s 300th Test wicket: The wicket of Rogers was Broad’s 300th wicket in his 83rd Test. He became the fifth Englishman and 29th player to take 300 Test wickets. He also became the second Englishman after Ian Botham (and the 13th cricketer) to the 2000 runs-300 double. Of Englishmen, Broad took most Test matches to reach the 300-wicket landmark. The others to have achieved this are Anderson, Botham, Bob Willis and Fred Trueman. READ: Michael Clarke’s shocking retirement will make Australia poorer

Both Aussie openers getting out for ducks: This was something rare for Australia. Having produced quality opening batsmen in recent years, it was the first such instance for Australia in this century. The last such occasion was in 1999 at Kandy against Sri Lanka when Michael Slater and Greg Blewett both scored ducks. The last in an Ashes Test was way back in 1950 at The Brisbane where the openers were Jack Moroney and Arthur Morris. READ: Ben Stokes proves his bowling credentials with top-class five-wicket haul

Steven Smith’s single-digit score run: Smith had scored 7 and 8 at Edgbaston, and was out for 6 in the first innings at Trent Bridge. This was the first time he got out in single digits in more than two consecutive innings in 32 Tests and 61 innings. To make matter worse, he was out for 5 in the second innings. READ: Starc carrying Australia all by himself; Johnson and Hazlewood nowhere close to their best

Stuart Broad’s five wickets in 19 balls: Broad’s swinging deliveries were likely to produce wicket every ball. He dismissed Rogers, Smith, Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges and Michael Clarke in his first 19 balls (3.1 overs). This is the joint- fewest number of balls to take five wickets from the start of an innings. He equalled the record of Ernie Toshack who did the same against India at The Gabba in 1947. READ: New Zealand rugby captain defends Australia’s loss to England

111 balls and all out: Australia’s first innings lasted just 111 balls (18.3 overs). It is the shortest completed first innings of a Test. The previous shortest was also by Australia (113 balls) when they were all out for 53 against England at Lord’s in 1896. READ: Mitchell Johnson congratulates England on Ashes win, praises Michael Clarke on his wonderful career

All out before lunch on first day of a Test: Australian batsmen could aggregate just 60 and were all out about ten overs before lunch on Day One. This was the only the fourth instance of a team getting all out in the first session of a Test. The previous instances were Australia (53) against England at Lord’s in 1896; India (76) against South Africa at Motera in 2008; and New Zealand (45) against South Africa at Newlands in 2012-13. READ: Kevin Pietersen’s friend Piers Morgan to be elected Pope in August following Ashes 2015 result!

Extras (14) being the highest score for Australia: Only two Australians could get to double digits in the first innings — Clarke (10) and Mitchell Johnson (13), but England conceded 14 extras. This was the first instance in The Ashes and 16th time overall in a completed innings. The last such instance was for England against West Indies at Sabina Park in 2004 where extras (60) beat the highest-scoring batsmen Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain. Both scored 58. READ: Ashes 2015 witnesses millionth ball in Test cricket in England

Records related to Stuart Broad’s 8 for 15: READ: Australia fulfil Steven Smith’s prophecy in the worst way possible!

–          They the best figures by an Englishman in Tests since Jim Laker’s 10 for 53 and 9 for 37 at Old Trafford in Ashes 1956.

–          They are the best figures before lunch on Day One of a Test surpassing Graham McKenzie’s 6 for 34 against India at MCG in 1967-68.

–          These are the best figures at Trent Bridge in Tests eclipsing Muttiah Muralitharan’s 8 for 70 against England in 2006. The previous best by an English bowler at the venue was 8 for 107 by Bernard Bosanquet in Ashes 1905.

–          These are the third cheapest eight-wicket haul in Tests after George Lohmann’s 8 for 7 against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1896 and Johnny Briggs’ 8 for 11 against South Africa at Newlands in 1889.

–          This is the first instance of a bowler taken eight or more wickets and all wickets were caught at slips but none by the wicketkeeper. James White also took eight wicket all caught without involving a wicketkeeper, but one of his wickets was a caught and bowled at Adelaide Oval in Ashes 1929-30.

Ian Bell’s dismissal on 1: Bell was out for 1 for the 12th time in Tests. Among proper batsmen this is the most number of times a batsman has got out for 1. He went past Sachin Tendulkar and Rod Marsh, who had got out on one 11 times in their careers. Of all players Anderson (14 times) and Harbhajan Singh (13) are the only players who have got this more times than Bell. READ: Australia’s no-show against menacing Stuart Broad will haunt them for years

Joe Root’s century batting in the second innings on Day One: By the end of Day One, Root had completed his century and was unbeaten on 124. He managed to score a century on the first day of a Test despite batting second. This is only the fifth instance of a batsman doing the same. Alviro Peterson (103*) for South Africa against New Zealand at Newlands in 2012-13 was the last to do so after New Zealand were bowled out for 45. Root’s 124* is also the second-highest score in the second innings of a Test on Day One. The highest is 151 by Marcus Trescothick against Bangaldesh at Chester-le-Street in 2005. READ: Stuart Broad shows a rare glimpse of history in Ashes 2015 4th Test at Trent Bridge

Lead of 214 by Day One: England scored 274 for 4 on Day One and led Australia by 214 runs. It is the third-highest lead for a team on the first day. The top two on the list are 286 by South Africa against Zimbabwe at Newlands in 2005 and 233 by England against Australia at Lord’s in 1893. READ: Australia’s collapse at Trent Bridge among worst in history

Both openers scoring ducks in first innings and 50 in the second: Rogers and David Warner were both out for ducks in the first innings and scored half-centuries in the second. Interestingly, it is only the third such instance in history. The last two were for India (Devang Gandhi and Sadagoppan Ramesh) against New Zealand at Mohali in 1999-00 and for New Zealand (Martin Guptill and Tom Latham) against England at Lord’s in 2015. READ: Peter Nevill looks like one for the future for Australia

Four six-wicket hauls by different bowlers from the same team in four consecutive test innings: Anderson (6 for 47) and Steven Finn (6 for 79) took six-fors at Edgbaston. Broad (8 for 15) and Stokes (6 for 36) did the same at Trent Bridge. This is the first occasion for any team that four different bowlers took six or more wickets in consecutive innings. READ: Why fast bowlers need to be angry to bowl at their best

Alastair Cook becomes first Englishman to appear in 50 Test wins: The win by an innings and 78 runs is the 50th win for England involving Cook. He became the first English player to reach this feat; 27 others have achieved this for other teams. The next best for England is Anderson with 49. If he hadn’t been absent, he also would have completed this milestone. READ: James Anderson’s side strain reminiscent of Glenn McGrath’s twisted ankle in Ashes 2005

Alastair Cook wins two Ashes series at home as captain: Cook had earlier led England to an Ashes win in England in 2013, and did the same in 2015. In doing so he emulated WG Grace (who had done it 1888, 1893, 1896 and 1899) and Mike Brearley (1977 and 1981).

100th innings victory: England became the first team to win 100 Tests by an innings. This was England’s 961st Test. They have won 344, lost 278 and drawn 339 matches. Australia is next with 85 innings victories.

7th Test defeat for Michael Clarke as captain in The Ashes: Clarke became the Australian captain with most defeats in Ashes Tests. He surpassed Billy Murdoch, Bill Woodfull, Allan Border and Ricky Ponting, all of whom had six defeats in Ashes under their leadership. READ: Michael Clarke’s captaincy in Ashes 2015 lacks flexibility

32nd Ashes series win for England: With this win, England regained the urn. Now both Australia and England have won 32 Ashes apiece, while five series were drawn of the 69 played so far.

Stuart Broad’s 8th Man of the Match award: Broad was adjudged Man of the Match for his 8 for 15. This is his eighth Man of the Match award in Tests. Of the current English players no one has so many: Anderson is next with seven. It is to be noted that Broad’s awards have all come at home. Botham (12) leads the way for England. READ: Dear Australian batsmen, will you stop letting your bowlers down in Ashes 2015?

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)