• Broad concedes costliest Test over

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    Stuart Broad conceded the most expensive over in Test history as India continued their stunning start against England at Edgbaston on Saturday.

    Broad offered up 35 runs, with with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja hitting a hundred.

    India were all out for a breathtaking 416 in their first innings and then reduced England to 16-1 in reply when stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah – Broad’s tormentor-in-chief with the bat – bowled Alex Lees with the last ball before rain stopped play on the second day of the Covid-delayed fifth Test.

    Broad had become just the sixth bowler to take 550 Test wickets when he lost his composure by repeatedly bowling too short at Bumrah, deputising as skipper for the Covid-hit Rohit Sharma, in a forlorn effort to intimidate the tailender.

    Bumrah batting at No 10, and facing the new ball, dismantled Broad’s figures during the course of eight remarkable deliveries.

    The six legitimate balls were thrashed for 23 runs, including four fours and a six.

    The 36-year-old Broad also sent down a wide that went all the way over the head of wicketkeeper Sam Billings for four and a no-ball Bumrah top-edged for six.

    Astonishingly, the over might have been even more expensive had Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar called a no-ball for a high full toss.

    The previous record of 28 runs in a Test over had been achieved on three occasions in the format’s 145-year history, with Broad’s teammates James Anderson and Joe Root two of the bowlers on the receiving end.

    Broad did not get a chance to make amends with the ball, although he did end the innings by catching last man Mohammad Siraj.

    © Agence France-Presse

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    Simon Borchardt