The bumfluff Botham
A tall, fair allrounder seized the day by the throat, redefined the possibilities of the match and may have had a decisive impact on the entire series

PA Photos
Broad took over the match just after lunch and a shower of rain. He bowled with accuracy and purpose and complete dominance. He moved the ball both ways, late and subtle. He ran in like a sprinter, hurled the ball like a javelin thrower and finessed his opponents like a chess grandmaster.
Ponting is the most distinguished Australian batsman of his era, and an improving captain — it was pleasing to hear a suitable tribute from the crowd as he came to bat today, in what might be his last Test in England. But his physique has absorbed a lot of punishment in the accumulation of his splendid record. A disc in his spine occasionally catches on a spur on one of his vertebrae, part of the trouble being that he spends so much of his time crouched, in the field and at the crease. Last June in a one-day international in Grenada, he tore ligaments and damaged the sheath that keeps the main tendon in place in his right wrist, a tennis injury less common in cricketers that impairs him in playing the pull shot. They are not, strictly speaking, injuries: more infirmities that he lives with. But they are signs of an impinging sporting mortality that Australia will have to deal with.
... because no deliveries reared sharply off a good length and flew at a batsman's throat. Yes, the odd ball stopped slightly but the change in pace was no greater than a well disguised slower ball.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo