As England's clash with World Test Champions New Zealand at Trent Bridge draws nearer, trentbridge.co.uk casts a glance backward at a landmark fixture played out on our hallowed turf.
Secure your seats for England v New Zealand (10-14 June 2022) here...
*******
In First-Class cricket, they call day three ‘moving day’.
While a fixture’s final throes may come one or two days later, the course of the contest is often determined in its third act.
To miss the third day is to unceremoniously tear the crucial chapter out of a compelling cricketing novel.
In truth, each and every day of the 2013 Ashes Test at Trent Bridge contained sufficient drama to sustain a series.
But England’s progress on day three proved absolutely crucial in the final reckoning, as the hosts earned a 1-0 lead in the series.
Under cloudless, sweltering skies, the two sides began almost at parity – Alastair Cook’s men’s tally of 80/2 in their second innings placing them 15 runs in front, with the wily Peter Siddle and two tearaway quicks in James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc already proving their worth.
It would be Pattinson who would curtail Kevin Pietersen’s involvement in the second innings, with a hint of reverse swing luring the right-hander into an ill-advised swipe outside off stump.
Pietersen played on, Pattinson displayed all the alpha-male bravado that would endear him to the Trent Bridge faithful four summers later, and Ian Bell arrived in the middle.
With captain Cook departing two overs later, and with Jonny Bairstow only mustering 15 runs before perishing, Bell was quickly thrust into the kind of leading role many doubted he could fill.
As a passionate travelling contingent hailed their Antipodean heroes, and with the new ball now due, the Warwickshire man was well and truly in the bear pit.
Nerves? Uncertainty? Not a bit of it.
Bell was the very definition of watchful at first, defending, scrapping and preserving his wicket as if his very life depended on it.
But as the ball softened, and as Matt Prior gave way to Stuart Broad, the momentum, slowly but surely, began to shift.
And when given the opportunity, Bell was masterful.
The most delicate, exquisite of late cuts was unfurled time after time after time, with a quarter of the right-hander’s runs being scored behind square on the off side.
Such was its beauty, this was a shot that bore repetition.
There was luck on the way: a moment's hesitancy between the wickets here, a slight miscue there – and an unheeded appeal from Australia against Broad that would go down in Ashes history.
But even as the most feverish of sunkissed Australians harangued the officials, they simply had to acknowledge the majesty of Bell’s runscoring.
Each perfectly-judged glance to the rope in front of the William Clarke Stand unfolded as if bowler and fielder alike were complicit in the act, so simple was the Englishman making the game appear.
Stumps would arrive with Bell unbeaten on 95, but those all-important five runs would be secured with ease on the fourth morning.
England would go on to make 375 – a target their hosts came perilously close to overcoming before falling agonisingly short on the final afternoon.
That the margin of victory was merely 14 runs served to underline the importance of Bell’s ton, the sole three-figure score of the match.
This was one of his generation’s most stylish batters showcasing his talent, guile and mettle precisely when it mattered.
This was a ‘moving day’ to leave an indelible impact on Ashes and Trent Bridge history.
*******
Tickets are being snapped up apace as Test cricket's return to Nottingham draws nearer, with the first three days of the contest fast approaching sell-out status.
