After another memorable summer, ecb.co.uk’s Bibhash Dash has picked out his best moments of the season in international cricket.
Fourth Investec Test v India – Emirates Old Trafford
The score 8-4 usually takes on shock value at a football game these days. However, August 7 saw England send shockwaves around the cricketing world by reducing India to that scoreline in 5.1 overs on day one of the fourth Investec Test at Emirates Old Trafford.
The last time India succumbed to a similar scoreline was on their tour of England in 1952.
Events in the third Test at the Ageas Bowl had brought England level in the series, but Manchester was where dominance came to the fore.
India won the toss and opted to bat in overcast conditions, a surprising decision also because there had been a short spell of rain before the start of play.
What followed was a procession of batsmen to and from the dressing room, as James Anderson and Stuart Broad made light work of Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir.
Broad finished that innings with 6-25, England bowled the visitors out for 152 on day one with a session to spare, and India also had the unwanted record of most ducks in an innings – six.
The dominance unsurprisingly extended to the match. England’s win by an innings and 54 runscame inside three days with India again being bowled out for less than 200 second time around.
NatWest International T20 v India – Edgbaston
Not many teams in world cricket can lay claim to having stopped Mahendra Singh Dhoni from finishing off a match, but that is exactly what England pulled off at Edgbaston on September 7.
Skipper Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales had powered England’s first innings to 180 for seven with scores of 71 and 40 respectively, before Virat Kohli led the chase with 66 to set up a nail-biting finish in the Twenty 20 international.
With Chris Woakes bowling a tense final over and India needing 17 to win, Dhoni was arguably the best person to see his side home.
Indeed, the India captain needed little invitation to smash the first ball of the final over for six before a four from Woakes’ fourth delivery, left him needing five to get off the last two balls.
However, Woakes responded in fine style. The penultimate delivery could only be hit for a potential single, which Dhoni refused to take despite the fact a recognised batsman, Ambati Rayudu, was at the other end.
So it came down to getting five off the final ball, and Dhoni, who famously won India the World Cup in 2011 with a six, was all set to give the Edgbaston crowd a bumper finish.
Woakes, though, had other ideas, and a cleverly bowled slower delivery meant Dhoni was forced to try and find the power himself. In the end the ball went harmlessly down to the leg-side boundary, gleefully picked up by Moeen Ali.
The victory by three runs was another positive to add to England’s summer, after they had also fought back to beat India 3-1 in the Investec Test series.