Families’ joy as England celebrate Ashes triumph
IT WAS a family affair as England’s cricket stars celebrated winning an epic Ashes series at Trent Bridge yesterday.
BOWLED OVER: Captain Cooke's daughter Elsie and wife Alice share in the excitement
Jubilant scenes saw captain Alastair Cook, 30, carrying 16-month-old daughter Elsie around the ground in Nottingham with his wife Alice Hunt, as they were applauded by fans singing “Rule, Britannia” and “Land of Hope and Glory”.
Man-of-the-match Stuart Broad, 29, who took a career-best eight wickets as Australia were skittled out for 60 on Thursday morning, received a congratulatory kiss from his model girlfriend Mitchell Bealey, 27, while wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, 24, downed a bottle of beer with some of the adoring fans.
SMOOCH: Stuart Broad gets a celebratory kiss from Bealey
The young team led by Essex opening batsman Cook needed just 39 emotion-charged minutes to wrap up the spectacular victory, with Durham fast bowler Mark Wood, 25, taking the final wicket.
England have now beaten Australia in four consecutive home series for the first time since 1896, which is more remarkable after a dismal 18 months that started with a 5-0 drubbing Down Under, followed by the acrimonious fallout of the Kevin Pietersen saga and then the one-day team being knocked out of the World Cup group stage by Bangladesh last winter.
FAN-TASTIC: The players’ wives and girlfriends cheer on their team
New coach Trevor Bayliss has allowed new stars Joe Root and Ben Stokes to flourish by playing vibrant, attacking cricket that has drawn comparison with the iconic Ashes series of 1981 and 2005.
Prime Minister David Cameron took to Twitter while on holiday in Portugal to applaud the achievement, writing: “Congratulations England on regaining Ashes. Thrilling victory. I’ll never forget Botham in 81 & don’t think I’ll ever forget this either.”