From Goldenbowls to #OhMyBroad

It has been a surreal few weeks for English cricket, even for those who have been around the Ashes block. Stuart Broad briefly acquired the Beckham-esque nickname "Goldenbowls" for his match-turning spell at The Oval in 2009, became an Australian hate figure for not walking at Trent Bridge in 2013 and is one of the few England survivors from their whitewashing the following winter. But after taking 8 for 15 to help bowl out Australia for 60 and recapture the urn, Broad has had to recalibrate. These amps go up to 11.

There is still one more Test of the Investec series to go but England's players have been able to take a few days out and enjoy the acclaim, having gone 3-1 up with their innings win at Trent Bridge. Coming in to the series, few were predicting anything other than an Australia victory so the events of the third and fourth Tests, when England twice won inside three days, have required some digesting.

"It still feels a bit strange," Broad says. "You get those sort of spells once in a lifetime. Sometimes it's for school, or for a club, but to do it against Australia at my home ground - it's not even your dream come true, because I never dreamt I could do something like that. The reaction this week has probably brought it home, just being around Nottingham, going to restaurants, people have been coming up to me and saying, 'That was the best day's cricket we've ever had'. And these are people who've been watching cricket for 50-60 years."

Broad's figures were the best by an England seamer against Australia, the best at Trent Bridge, where he plays his cricket for Nottinghamshire, and the best by any bowler in the Ashes since Jim Laker at Old Trafford in 1956. Amid the pandemonium, he also passed 300 Test wickets and went on to eclipse Fred Trueman and move up to fourth on England's all-time list.

All pretty impressive but it was Broad's shocked, hands-over-mouth reaction to a stupendous Ben Stokes catch - a diving, back-pocket magic trick to dismiss Adam Voges that recalled Andrew Strauss' famous effort in 2005 - which really fired up social media, an #OhMyBroad hashtag capturing the jaw-slackening hysteria of the moment, as team-mates, members of the public, even footballers such as Arsenal's Theo Walcott, recreated the pose. English cricket, and Broad specifically, went viral.

"People have been walking past me in the street doing that face. It makes me a bit self-conscious, I'm like 'what have I got on my face?' But it's been good fun, I've quite enjoyed it, it's all very light-hearted. It was just genuine amazement at the skill Stokesy showed. A lot of reaction has been about Stokesy's catch, because it was like Strauss 05, really.

"I saw Theo Walcott doing it, I've got a Twitter video of Lancs under-12s all doing it. It's a bit strange."

After the lolz comes the danger of a lull but, even with the series won, Broad says England will be maintaining their intensity and trying to secure a 4-1 scoreline at The Oval. While playing a round of golf a few days later, Broad "had to walk a few holes" after receiving a phone call from Alastair Cook. Sitting on his farm during what was essentially a week off, the captain was not about to lose focus.

"He was calling everyone to say: look, let's make sure we turn up Monday knowing that we're in a battle and that we want to start again. Because I've got a burning desire for this to be 4-1. Certainly the three or four of us that were involved in the 5-0 in Australia, there's a lot of determination to make this a good week.

"We're training an extra day, like we did at Trent Bridge, and there is a burning desire to keep this form going, because Australia are a ruthless team when they get on top of you, and we want to have that same tag about us. No one wants to be an enjoyable team to play against, and we want to try and hammer that home a little bit."

Broad's consistency with the ball in this series has certainly helped England to be ruthless and his battles with two of Australia's key batsmen have set a belligerent tone. Michael Clarke will retire after the Oval Test, having been harried throughout the series, but Broad will have a couple more chances to extend his record of 11 dismissals against the Australia captain.

He has also removed Steven Smith, the man anointed as Clarke's successor, three times. A double-hundred on a flat Lord's surface notwithstanding, England have generally succeeded in testing Smith's patience against swing and seam movement - helping to bear out comments made by Broad before the series about the challenges he would face at No. 3.

"At the time it got a bit twisted, like a Glenn McGrath-type role and picking someone out," Broad says. "I meant that he didn't really have any weaknesses in his batting technique coming in at No. 5 when the ball wasn't doing anything, but if as a team we got him in early we could apply some pressure if the ball was moving. It's worked that way, he got an amazing double-hundred where he didn't really give us a chance but when we've had a wicket that has offered a bit we've bowled incredibly well at him."

Still only 29, Broad is a senior figure in this new-look England team and he has to scratch his head when considering how things have changed from previous Ashes-winning campaigns. "These guys are so different to the sides of 2013 and 2009," he says, "no wonder some Tests are finishing in only two or three days." Aggression has become the new attrition.

Such has been the all-for-one mentality of the team that Broad says watching Stokes take 6 for 36 in Australia's second innings at Trent Bridge "was the highlight of my game". Neither was he bothered about missing out on the chance of a ten-for, as Stokes and Mark Wood were given the opportunity to finish off the match on the third morning. Broad, after all, has already played the central role in many an Ashes drama.

"For the two young lads to get that experience of bowling England to an Ashes win was way more important than me trying to get one wicket. It was great just to stand at mid-on and be a bit of a fan, honestly. I think I touched the ball once. I was just looking at the crowd, really soaking in regaining the Ashes, which was quite a nice feeling."