Some players wilt under the pressure of an Ashes series but others, such as Stuart Broad, relish the challenge of Test cricket's greatest rivalry.

Broad has taken more Test wickets against Australia than any England player, with Ian Botham, Bob Willis and James Anderson below him on that list, and he is 3/1 to be England's Top Team Bowler in this summer's series.

Brilliant burst helps England seal 2009 series decider

Broad started the 2023 summer with a five-wicket haul in the first innings of England's Test victory over Ireland at Lord's, proving that he remains a top-class bowler at the age of 36.

He made his Ashes debut in Cardiff in 2009, taking 1-129 as Australia piled up 674-6 declared, but those underwhelming figures were a distant memory by the end of the series.

Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey were among Broad's victims in his 6-91 at Headingley in the fourth Test before, for the first but not the last time in Test cricket, he produced an exhilarating, match-changing spell of bowling in the series decider at The Oval.

Australia slipped from 73-0 to 133-8 during his first-innings burst as he dismissed Ponting, Hussey, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin to secure a commanding first-innings lead for England, who went on to seal a 2-1 series victory.

Wickets flow at the Riverside in 2013

Four years later, Australia were on the end of another Broad blitz at Durham's Riverside Ground.

His five-wicket haul in the first innings, including the wickets of Clarke, Watson and opener David Warner, had restricted Australia's lead to 32 but the tourists were on course for a victory target of 299, reaching 174-3.

Broad conjured up a stunning leg-cutter to bowl Aussie captain Clarke, then got rid of Steve Smith, Haddin, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle, who was caught by Anderson at mid-off to give England an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

Broad finished with 11 wickets in the match and his second-innings spell yielded 6-22 in 9.3 overs, completing Australia's collapse from 147-1 to 224 all out.

Broad gives Aussies 94-minute Nottingham nightmare

England had made a winning start to the 2015 Ashes in Cardiff, where Broad dismissed Clarke, Smith and opener Chris Rogers to derail Australia's pursuit of an unlikely fourth-innings target of 400.

The Aussies won the second Test at Lord's by 405 runs before England hit back at Edgbaston, so another tight contest was expected in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, especially with Anderson sidelined by injury.

Broad, however, had other ideas, taking centre stage in one of the most one-sided starts to a match in Ashes history as Australia were bowled out for 60 in just 94 minutes.

The writing was on the wall after the first over in which Rogers and Smith were both caught in the slips, deceived by Broad's masterful seam movement.

Warner was then caught behind off Mark Wood in the following over, before Broad had Shaun Marsh edging to second slip and Adam Voges fell to a stunning Ben Stokes catch in the cordon.

Frazzled Aussie skipper Clarke tried to hit his way out of trouble and was caught, inevitably, in the slips off Broad, who polished off the tail to finish with figures of 8-15 from 9.3 overs.

A statistical analysis by the ESPNcricinfo website rated Broad's Trent Bridge effort as the second-best bowling performance in Test history and few England supporters who witnessed it would disagree.

Ashes rematch with Warner should be box-office

Broad has achieved some amazing feats in his long Test career, becoming the first England bowler to claim two Test hat-tricks, scoring 169 from number nine against Pakistan at Lord's in 2010, and closing in on 600 wickets in the format.

However, few of those will have given him as much pleasure as his 2019 working-over of Australia opener Warner.

Both players have been pantomime villains for opposing fans during their Ashes careers, but there was only one winner in their match-up four years ago when Warner mustered just 95 runs in 10 innings in the 2-2 draw in England.

Broad dismissed the left-hander in seven of those innings, bowling at the stumps to restrict Warner's ability to play his favourite attacking shots through the off side and the veterans will be going head to head again in the 2023 Ashes.

The series begins on 16th June at Edgbaston, where Broad started the 2019 series by pinning Warner LBW on his way to figures of 5-86, and England are 5/4 to beat 11/8 Australia in the first Test.

bet365 News Team

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• Australia Men's Cricket Team
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