Stuart Broad has announced the ongoing fifth Test of Ashes 2023 will be the last of his professional career. The modern-day fast bowling legend will draw curtains on a prolific career that saw him become only the second fast bowler in Test history to take 600 or more wickets.
The decision wasn’t taken long ago. In fact Broad has revealed that it was only Friday evening that he felt full content with the call before revealing it to England Test captain Ben Stokes.
Broad formed a highly successful bowling partnership with James Anderson who happens to be the first bowler in Test history to cross the milestone of 600 wickets. Together the pair has taken close to 1300 wickets for England.
Having played together for a long time, it was expected that the moment was going to be emotional for the two when Broad made his intentions clear.
“He (Anderson) just said ‘are you joking?’. We then had a hug. I went to see Stokes and Baz [Brendon McCullum] last night and said thanks for all you have done for me,” Broad said on BBC’s Test Match Special.
“It is always hard. When I spoke to Jimmy I got a bit emotional. But ultimately we have a game to win here. We can do the reminiscing afterwards if we get the job done,” he added.
Writing in his column for the Daily Mail, Broad said it was vital for him that his last game be against Australia in the Ashes which he considers the pinnacle of Test cricket.
“Ashes cricket has brought out the best in me, I love the energy of the battle against Australia, the crowd involvement, I’m proud to have 150 Test wickets against them and ultimately these are the memories I will hold with me for the rest of my life,” Broad wrote.
“I look around and I have played so much cricket with so many players in this team. I love this team to bits and so even though I was at peace with telling Brendon McCullum and Stokes on Friday night, it was still difficult telling some of the rest of the lads on Saturday during pre-play warm ups,” he added.
Broad said he also fell short of words when speaking to another longtime teammate Joe Root.
“I tried to tell Joe Root and I struggled to get any words out other than a repeat of the same hand shake with Ben and the: ‘That’s me’ line. International cricket has been my life for the past 17 years and I have made such string of friendships and forged such competitive battles with opponents,” wrote Broad.
He then added it wasn’t right for Anderson and him to retire at the stime,
In fact, Anderson had recently quashed retirement talks saying he still has a lot to offer.
“Of course, I will miss all of that. In contrast to me, Jimmy Anderson will carry on and it never felt right for the two of us to go together. Not that that came into my decision, but it’s good that one half of our partnership will be able to contribute to the changing room going forward,” wrote Broad.
Broad, 37, said he only spoke to Stokes after being fully confident that it’s the right time to walk away.
“Ben didn’t try to change my mind, either. He really understood the decision. I hadn’t mentioned it to him beforehand because I wanted to make sure I was clear in my mind and I wasn’t really going in for a negotiation,” wrote.
“England v Australia has always been the pinnacle for me — and I wanted my last bat and bowl to be in Ashes cricket,” he added.
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