Stuart Broad - Recordbreaker

The First Wicket - Sri Lanka at Columbo 2007

An inauspicious start to Stuart Broad's Test career. Less than six months earlier, Broad had announced that he was leaving Leicestershire to come and play for Nottinghamshire but he hadn't yet made his Notts debut when he was called up for his first Test appearance. Called up to replace Matthew Hoggard, following defeat in the first test of the series, all of the England bowlers toiled in a high scoring draw, Broad taking 1-95 - Chaminda Vaas being his first ever test wicket. It would get better.

The First Five-For - West Indies at Kingston 2009

Broad was back out of the side for the next match in Sri Lanka and despite playing 6 tests in England the following summer , he only played once on the tour to India. He was back in the side when England arrived in the West Indies and took his first test five-for in the first test. His victims included Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul but his efforts were in vain as a second innings collapse saw England lose by an innings and 23 runs.

The First Hat Trick - India at Trent Bridge 2011

By the summer of 2011, Broad was a mainstay in the test side and after already removing Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh in India's first innings, he took his first test hat trick. Captain MS Dhoni went first, caught by Broad's new ball partner, James Anderson. Then he pinned Harbhajan Singh LBW and bowled Praveen Kumar, sparking wild celebrations. Another wicket in the first innings and two more in the second helped England win the game by a mammoth 319 runs.

The First 10 Wicket Match - West Indies at Lords 2012

The first test match of the 2012 summer saw the West Indies arrive at Lords and Stuart Broad on one of his magic spells. After removing opener Adrian Barath earlier in the day, Broad took the final six wickets of the tourists' innings - Marlon Samuels, Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Fidel Edwards and Shannon Gabriel, finishing on 7-72. Samuels, Roach and Sammy were victims again in the second innings, along with Kieran Powell as Broad recorded match figures of 11-165 as England won by five wickets.

THAT spell - Australia at Trent Bridge 2015

When Stuart Broad is on one, he is properly on one and there was no better demonstration of that than when Australia arrived in Nottingham for the fourth Ashes test of 2015. With James Anderson absent, Broad opened the bowling and took two wickets, Chris Rogers and Steve Smith, in the first over. Shaun Marsh soon followed for a duck and Adam Voges went to a ridiculous catch from Ben Stokes. Next up for Broad was Aussie skipper Michael Clarke, followed by Mitchel Starc, Mitchel Johnson and Nathan Lyon. Broad finished with 8-15 as Australia were bowled out for just 60 from 111 balls, with Extras top scoring with 14. England were batting before lunch and won the game and reclaimed the Ashes - the Trent Bridge Inn was bouncing that week.

Wicket 384 - West Indies at Edgbaston 2017

Ian Botham had been top dog in terms of England wicket takers for a long time, out there on 383 wickets. First James Anderson passed him on the way to becoming the first Englishman to take 400 test wickets. Stuart Broad has now passed Botham as well after taking two wickets in the first innings and three in the second in the first ever day-night test match in England. Shane Dowrich was the batter that took Broad to 384.

Broad vs Botham

It's great to see a local lad do so well on the international stage. At times in his career, Broad had bowled a little bit short and he has also been guilty of looking for the magic ball too often. There have also been games where it has looked like he has been floating the ball down but these days he looks totally comfortable with his game and he bowls well, even when he isn't in the middle of one of his unplayable spells. With two more matches against an average West Indian team this summer and then a winter in Australia playing for the Ashes, it will only be a matter of time before he takes his 400th test wicket. After that, who knows? If he can stay fit, in the same manner as his great friend James Anderson, then who knows how many wickets he can end up with.

Stuart Broad plays cricket for Nottinghamshire and England and is one of the founders of The Broad Appeal to fight against Motor Neurone disease

The Broad Appeal website