England's Stuart Broad reflects on his spectacular career and the electric Ashes series which saw him become the fifth highest wicket taker in Test history; 'I have had no regrets yet which I think tells me in my gut that it was the right decision'.
Sunday 31 December 2023 10:46, UK
“I wanted to go out loving the game and I succeeded in that.”
Stuart Broad brought the curtain down on his glittering cricket career - over 600 wickets, four Ashes triumphs, 8-15 on a remarkable morning at Trent Bridge - by dismissing Alex Carey at The Kia Oval in July to secure England a series-levelling victory over Australia.
The bowler had announced earlier in the Test that the game would be his last, not just for his country but in the sport, and he proceeded to smash the final ball he faced for six before having Carey caught behind by Jonny Bairstow from his final delivery in a fairy-tale finish.
Carey caught Bairstow bowled Broad was a fitting way for the series to end, with the Ashes sparking into life earlier in the summer when Bairstow was controversially stumped by Carey in the second Test at Lord's and the Australia wicketkeeper was promptly told by an irate Broad: "that's all you'll be remembered for".
Broad will be remembered for many things. His devastating spells. His ability to whip the crowd into a frenzy. His box-office theatrics. His 'celebrappeals'. His late-career trick of switching the bails.
He will be remembered as England's ultimate showman, one who went out in style, on his terms.
"I do feel within myself that I could have played for another couple of years but I wanted to finish at the top, finish in an England shirt and to be able to control that myself. I had to try and go at the right time," Broad told Sky Sports News' James Savundra.
"I have had no regrets yet which I think tells me in my gut that it was the right decision. Because my team-mates have not walked onto the field in their whites with the England cap on, I have not had a moment of realisation like, 'wow, I won't ever do that again'.
"Every player I have spoken to, from different eras, has had that one moment of 'I'm not a professional cricketer any more'.
"Whether that comes when England go to India or when Nottinghamshire take the field in April at Trent Bridge, I'm not sure, [but] I couldn't have finished in a better way.
"I loved every moment of walking off the field at The Oval, beating Australia in an Ashes Test.
"If I played for another 10 years, I would never have been able to repeat that finish. I have no regrets about finishing.
"To have that emotion of running on for my final spell with people knowing it was my last-ever session of cricket gave me emotions that will live with me forever.
"Winning the Test was the biggest thing for me - the emotion of the crowd and winning the game. It would have been devastating for me to walk off for the final time having lost a Test to the Aussies.
"Walking off with the boxes behind us, seeing my mum, my dad, [partner] Mollie, [daughter] Annabella and friends, it just felt perfect."
England had slipped 2-0 down in the Ashes after the headline-making second Test at Lord's with Ben Stokes' stunning 155 - reminiscent of his match-winning 135 not out against Australia at Headingley four years earlier - coming in vain.
The Bairstow stumping lit a fire under England, though. They went on to triumph in Leeds before the rain in Manchester prevented them from making it 2-2 and setting up an Oval decider.
As it was, the rain on the final day in London seemed as though it may scupper their hopes of even claiming a series draw, before that relented and England claimed five wickets for 30 runs, including a spell of three for one run, to leave Australia 294-8.
That became 329-8 as the tourists threatened to pinch a draw and earn a first Test series win in England since 2001, but then up stepped Broad, Australia's tormentor so many times in the past, to nick off Todd Murphy after switching the bails over and then vaporise Carey two overs later.
"Stokesy (captain Ben Stokes) said it was my last over and he was going to bring Mark Wood's extra pace on to try and get the game done. I knew it would be my last over in professional cricket.
"I think I got two play and misses from the first five balls. I hadn't thought about changing the bails but I felt a bit unlucky, saw the stumps and thought, 'I'm going to change them again'.
"I did it, heard a bit of a cheer and started my walk back to my run-up. I had the realisation that this was my last-ever ball.
"I have to admit that my emotions got the better of me, my legs went like jelly. I started shaking them, thinking, 'gosh, I have to get some feeling back'.
"I wanted my last-ever ball to be a good one, not a full toss that gets whacked for four. I changed my mindset and started chanting in my head, 'hit the pitch, hit the pitch'.
"Then my body relaxed as I ran in. I stopped thinking about the emotions of the occasion and started thinking about delivering the skill I have time and time again.
"When I released it and Murphy nicked it, the emotion of that edge going through to Jonny (Bairstow) was [amazing].
"Because everyone was on the boundary as we didn't want to concede a four, when I turned I had no one within 50 metres of me. That's why I was running around jumping on my own.
"I love looking back on the Sky Sports coverage as there was a moment when my eyes were on stalks. That's when I remembered that I changed the bails. I didn't think about that until 20 seconds after the wicket had been taken."
On his relationship with England fans, Broad added: "I needed the crowd. If I felt the team needed a lift I would go to the supporters and they'd get us moving.
"That almost became a bit of mickey-taking in our dressing room but ultimately when we were out Ollie Pope, Mark Wood, Zak Crawley would come to me saying, 'I think it's time to get the crowd going'. Stokesy would bring me on and for say, 'for three overs, think about the crowd'.
"That helped me. The crowd noise helped my stride pattern, my energy, my drive [as] I am not one of these players that has been consistent.
"I watch Jimmy (Anderson) bowl and he is like a Rolls Royce, cruising around so smooth. I am more effort and need to be on top of my game all the time, super-competitive.
"That's why the crowd were so vital for me. I would lean on them a lot for energy. Seeing a lot of headbands on the final day [at The Oval] brought a lot of pride to me and smiles."
Smiles for Broad in south London, then, but he was seething after Bairstow's stumping across the capital at Lord's earlier in the series.
I am going to walk away from the playing side of the game loving cricket. I can talk about it in such a loving, brilliant, enjoyable, fun way. Sometimes in sport if you get to the point where it is agony getting out of bed every day and you are not playing well, you are losing all the time, you are getting dropped, then your memories, even if it’s only 12 months, are, ‘was I ever any good?
Bairstow had dawdled out of his crease at the end of an over, believing the ball was dead, and after Carey's throw hit the stumps, Australia captain Pat Cummins did not withdraw the appeal.
Broad replaced Bairstow out in the middle, telling Carey exactly what he thought of his part in the controversy and then regularly bellowing 'in' after placing his bat behind the line.
Broad added: "That particular moment, in all honesty, I saw red mist for 10 minutes.
"I class myself, particularly in my 30s, as being really mentally strong. I had a lot of routines and techniques that looked after me.
"But I was frustrated with that dismissal. One of our great players out in that way when it felt… he wasn't trying to gain an advantage so it felt a really strange dismissal.
"I saw red mist and couldn't control myself for 10 minutes. I completely forgot there were TV cameras, microphones. Anything with a green cap on, I was just targeting, having a go at.
"After about 10 minutes, Stokesy came to me in the middle and said, 'are you alright?' I said, 'yeah, I just got a bit emotional, the crowd were revving me up'.
"I said, 'what do you want me to do?' He said, 'keep going verbally at the Aussies, they are looking at the ground, they have lost their body language, lost their plan, they are bowling rubbish to me'.
"So, after 10 minutes of red mist and petulantly going 'in' with my bat, it then became a targeted thing and me deliberately trying to get under their skin and take their mind away from the plan. We lost by 43 runs. Could Jonny have got 40-odd runs?
"It galvanised us, it galvanised our fans. It is what Ashes cricket is about. It had edge to it."
