Best of Stuart Broad in Test cricket

"I actually felt probably in the best rhythm of the summer so far," Stuart Broad said at the start of the ongoing English summer after running through an Ireland batting line-up at Lord's to claim a five-wicket haul.

The England fast bowler, who has a knack for delivering telling spells, has enthralled fans around the globe with quite a few of those over the years.

Now, as he reaches the record milestone of 600 wickets in the format, Broad's legacy will be that of a fast bowler who bowls explosive spells to swing matches. Legendary spinners Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800) make up the top two in the Test wicket-takers list.

Broad's teammate James Anderson is on 688 scalps, the most by any fast bowler in Test history. Broad is close on his heels and will have his eyes set on Anil Kumble's tally of 619 Test wickets next.

As he completes a remarkable feat, we take a look at the six most scintillating spells of Broad's Test career so far.

The iconic Broad spell came on the first morning at Trent Bridge with the Ashes still in the balance.

England went into the fourth Test with a 2-1 series lead but without the injured James Anderson, only for Broad to step up on his home ground and tear through the Australian side in a spell that lasted just 9.3 overs.

Broad removed Chris Rogers and Steve Smith in his very first over of the day, and his near-perfect display of seam bowling in English conditions proved far too good for Australia, who were all out before lunch.

All eight of his wickets were caught in the slips, including a brilliant catch by Ben Stokes that prompted the most memorable pose of Broad’s career.

The only spell outside of England in this list, Broad ripped the heart out of South Africa’s second innings to give his side an easy chase to wrap up a famous series win.

The Proteas topped the ICC Test rankings at the time and looked well-placed to give England a tricky fourth-innings chase with the visitors leading the series 1-0.

But Broad found some movement off the Johannesburg pitch to lure opening batter Dean Elgar into an edge to get the ball rolling, and he took the next four wickets for the cost of just one run.

He ended his spell with figures of 6/17 having dismissed all six of South Africa’s frontline batters, and England knocked off the target of 74 to win the series.

Broad’s salvo at Trent Bridge two years later is his most famous Ashes moment, but the performance at Durham in 2013 was arguably an even more impressive spell.

The tourists were making a decent fist of a chase of 299, which would have pulled the series back to 2-1. But Broad castled the stumps of Michael Clarke before Steve Smith dragged on to expose the lower order, and he ripped through the tail to win the Ashes for England.

The spell lasted just 9.3 overs, with Broad finishing with 6/22 on a gloomy Durham afternoon.

England went on to win this series 4-0 on home soil but looked to be in trouble when India threatened to build a huge first-innings lead in the second Test at Trent Bridge.

The score was 267-4, with India already leading by 46, when Broad returned to the attack with the second new ball. First, he lured Yuvraj Singh into an edge through to the keeper, and then he rattled through the middle-to-lower order, taking the first hat-trick of his career before wrapping up the innings when Ishant Sharma gloved a steepling bouncer to short leg.

Broad finished with figures of 6/46, but it was his spell of 5/5 that broke the back of India’s resistance in the series.

A match that will be remembered more for Kevin Pietersen’s outrageous 149 - and his similarly eyebrow-raising text messages from the England dressing room - was also the scene of one of Broad’s best ever spells.

Broad gave England a sniff of victory with another remarkable barrage on the final day in Leeds, coming on to bowl with the Proteas 205/3 and cruising to what seemed like an inevitable draw.

His wickets of AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Jean-Paul Duminy, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel changed the face of the final afternoon, with England going in search of an unlikely win by throwing Pietersen up the order to try and chase down 253. That plan ultimately didn’t work, but the South African batters won't have forgotten Broad's spell in a hurry.

Stuart Broad player profile

International cricket returned after the pandemic break with West Indies' tour of England and Broad made an immediate impression with two terrific spells in the Test match.

The lanky fast bowler ran through the visitors' middle and lower order in the first innings to help England bowl the visitors out for 197. He finished with 6/31 in 14 impressive overs.

Broad wasn't done with that, though, going on to take four more in the second innings, including the scalps of both the openers, to finish with a ten-wicket match haul.

The wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite was also his 500th in Test cricket.

A characteristic England batting collapse had left New Zealand with a target of 239 to win the first Test at Lord’s, with almost two days left in the match.

But Broad had other ideas, clean bowling Hamish Rutherford with only his third delivery and not leaving the bowling attack for the remainder of the innings.

Broad’s remarkable assault saw him finish with figures of 7/44 off just 11 overs, including five of the Black Caps’ top six. England went on to win the series 2-0.