England getting ahead 3-0 in the Ashes and Broad's best

Stats highlights from England's win over Australia at Durham in the Ashes

Shiva Jayaraman

12-Aug-2013

Stuart Broad celebrates after David Warner's wicket, England v Australia, 4th Investec Ashes Test, 2nd day, Chester-le-Street, August 10, 2013

The last time England took a lead of 3-0 to win the Ashes was in 1977. They drew at Lord's and then won at Old Trafford, Trent Bridge and Headingley to win the Ashes by the fourth Test. The fifth and final Test at The Oval in that series ended in a draw. The other two instances of England getting ahead by 3-0 in the Ashes were in 1928-29 and in a three-Test series in 1886. Though England have never won the Ashes by a 4-0 margin, they did get ahead of Australia 4-0 in the 1928-29 series before losing the last Test at the MCG to end up with a scoreline of 4-1.

Stuart Broad's bowling figures of 11 for 121 for the match are his best in Tests. The last time an England fast bowler took 11 or more wickets in the Ashes was way back in 1961 when Fred Trueman took 11 for 88 at Headingley. This is the 16th instance of a fast bowler getting 11 or more wickets in a match in the Ashes. This was Broad's second Man-of-the-Match award in the Ashes and his sixth in Tests overall.

Both James Anderson and Stuart Broad have taken ten-wicket hauls in this Ashes series - only the seventh time England bowlers have taken two or more ten-wicket hauls for the match in an Ashes series. The last time this happened was in 1956 when Jim Laker took both the ten-wicket hauls. He took 11 for 113 at Headingley and followed it up with 19 for 90 at Old Trafford.

The 109-run partnership between Chris Rogers and David Warner was the first century partnership by openers - from either side - in this Ashes. This is the only the third time in the Ashes that a century opening partnership in the fourth innings of a Test has ended up on the losing side. The last time this happened was in 1924, when Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe added 110 runs chasing a target of 605 at the SCG. This is also the first time out of ten Tests that Australia have lost after a century-stand from their openers while chasing in the fourth innings. Overall in Tests, an opening pair that has added a hundred or more runs in the fourth innings has ended up on the losing side on only 11 occasions, including Australia in this Test.

Ryan Harris' 7 for 117 were his career best figures in an innings in Tests. The last time an Australia fast bowler took seven or more wickets in an innings in England was Glenn McGrath's 7 for 76 at Headingley in 2001. The previous occasion of an Australia fast bowler taking nine wickets for the match in the Ashes also involved Harris. Mitchell Johnson and Harris took nine wickets apiece in the Perth Test in 2010.

Harris' was the seventh instance in the Ashes that a bowler ended up on the losing side after taking seven or more wickets in the second innings. This was the 13th occasion of a bowler taking seven wickets in an innings at an economy of four runs or more in Tests and the seventh such occasion by a fast bowler.

Australia's batting followed the now familiar script of undoing the good work done by their bowlers. It was the turn of their middle order (No. 4 to No. 7) this time: their middle order managed to score just 13 runs in their second innings. The last time their middle order failed to aggregate 20 runs in an innings was back in 1981 in the famous Test at Headingley, when Bob Willis ran through Australia side in the second innings.

Ian Bell scored the 20th century of his career, in England's second innings, and his fourth of the Ashes. With this century, he has now become the ninth England batsman to hit 20 or more centuries in Tests. He is only the third England batsman to hit three centuries in an Ashes series at home. The other batsmen to achieve this feat are Maurice Leyland, who had three centuries from eight innings in 1934 and David Gower, who had three centuries from nine innings in 1985. He is the tenth England batsman to hit three or more centuries in an Ashes series.

Ian Bell now has 57 scores of fifty or more runs in Tests. He has drawn level with David Gower and Alastair Cook in the list of England batsmen with most fifty-plus scores in Tests. Graham Gooch's 66 scores of fifty or more runs are the highest by any England batsman.

Alastair Cook' s ordinary form at home in the Ashes continues. In 17 Ashes innings in England, Cook has scored 440 runs at an average of 25.88. He is yet to score an Ashes century at home. Cook's record in the Ashes playing in away matches, from exactly the same number of innings, is excellent: he has scored 1042 runs at an average of 65.12. He has four centuries and two half-centuries from these 17 innings in Australia.

Matt Prior's batting average of 14.33 in this series after the fourth Test equals his worst in a Test series. Prior averaged 14.33 from four innings in the recently concluded series against New Zealand at home. Against New Zealand, Prior scored 43 from four innings, exactly half of the 86 he has scored from seven innings in this Ashes.

Chris Rogers David Warner Ryan Harris Stuart Broad Ian Bell Alastair Cook Matt Prior England Australia England vs Australia Australia tour of England and Scotland

Shiva Jayaraman is a sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo