Broad: 'My last hat-trick was for the Under-15s at school'
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Your support makes all the difference.Stuart Broad admitted last night that the third hat-trick of his career will lose a lot of its shine if England fail to beat India in Nottingham. "It feels special but it won't mean that much if we do not win this Test," he said.
Broad, the all-rounder who could do little right with bat or ball earlier this summer, is now sweeping all before him. But to take three wickets in three balls – and five in the space of 16 deliveries – on his home ground, with friends and family watching, was the stuff of dreams.
"I think it is my third hat-trick but we have to go back to Oakham School Under-15s for the last one," he said. "And I don't think the atmosphere was quite as good on that occasion, with only parents watching! I always enjoy playing at Trent Bridge and the way the crowd lifted us when we took that second new ball was fantastic. It created quite a fearsome atmosphere for the Indian batsmen to come into."
He added: "Andrew Strauss [pictured] had asked us if we could raise our intensity after tea but we probably didn't expect to bowl them out in that session. To do it was pretty special but the biggest test for us probably comes now. We need a guy to get a hundred and for us to bat big, because I think the pitch will be pretty useful for us to bowl on in the last innings."
England felt yesterday should have gone better for them sooner, with VVS Laxman surviving a caught-behind appeal because HotSpot technology failed to detect the faint snick which Broad and Co were sure they heard. There have been rumours of players outsmarting Hot Spot by smearing Vaseline down the edges of their bats, and Broad said: "I had a cheeky feel of the edge but there was nothing on it. I think it is just a flaw with the technology."
The England off spinner Graeme Swann was last night reprimanded by the match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, for knocking the bails off with a kick at the turf in frustration after an expensive over.
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