Stokes ends with 6 for 36 as home side beats Australia in fourth Test at Trent Bridge by an innings and 78 runs to take a 3-1 lead in the series
A six-wicket haul from Ben Stokes (6 for 36) and good contribution from Mark Wood (3 for 69) helped England regain the Ashes in style with a massive innings and 78-run victory over Australia in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday (August 8).
England went into the third day on the brink of victory, with Australia struggling at 241 for 7 in its second innings. The visitors needed 90 runs to make England bat again but that didn't happen as England's pacers finished the formalities in less than an hour.
The victory gave England an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. It was the first time this year that England won back-to-back Tests.
Stokes, who took five wickets on Friday, struck early in the day with the wicket of Mitchell Starc for nought. Starc, one of Australia’s bright sparks in this Test courtesy a career-best 6 for 101, poked at an away-swinger after struggling for 16 deliveries to give Ian Bell a regulation catch at second slip.
Wood, who replaced an injured James Anderson for the Test, then yorked Josh Hazlewood and uprooted his middle stump, before ending the match dismissing Nathan Lyon in similar fashion.
Amid all this, Adam Voges completed his half-century and remained unbeaten on 51 - his highest score of the series. Australia's woes in the match started early when it collapsed to 60 all out in in 111 balls -- the shortest completed first innings in Test history -- in its first innings. Stuart Broad, the wrecker-in-chief in Australia's first innings with his career-best return of 8 for 15, was deservedly named the Man of the Match.
England in reply made 391 for 9 declared, with Joe Root top-scoring with 130. Stokes' second five-wicket haul in Tests also meant that England became the first team to have four different bowlers take six wickets in four consecutive innings. James Anderson and Steven Finn did it in the third Test at Edgbaston, while Broad and Stokes following suit in Nottingham.
Source:ICC