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<\/p>\nStuart Broad walks out at The Oval during his final Test match for England<\/p>\n
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Stuart Broad has no regrets: he is fulfilled by a cricket career that marks him as one of the greatest Test bowlers of all time, happy with his decision to retire (though he doesn\u2019t like the R word) near the peak of his powers, and to have gone out with a six, a wicket and a win over Australia. He doesn\u2019t keep much memorabilia, but he took home his last bat and that final ball.<\/p>\n
Broad is content. And yet, there is a moment in that Ashes series that makes him feel embarrassed just thinking about it.<\/p>\n
Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey had just stumped an unsuspecting Jonny Bairstow at Lord\u2019s, in a piece of gamesmanship so barbaric it had turned the home of cricket\u2019s dignified crowd into a baying mob. \u201cIt was definitely the fiercest atmosphere I\u2019ve ever heard at Lord\u2019s,\u201d remembers Broad. \u201cPeople were ferociously angry.\u201d The Long Room briefly forgot itself as MCC members confronted Australian players. Out in the middle, Broad spent the next two hours sledging anyone in earshot.<\/p>\n
He sarcastically placed his bat in his crease at the end of each over. He goaded Carey, saying, \u201cthat\u2019s all you\u2019ll ever be remembered for\u201d. He told captain Pat Cummins \u201cyou\u2019re an absolute disgrace,\u201d and \u201call these boos are for you\u201d. Broad kept chirping away while Ben Stokes smashed sixes into the stands and, for a brief while, England threatened to pull off one of the great Ashes comebacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt unsettled the Aussies,\u201d Broad says of his verbal frenzy. \u201cBut I do feel in years to come I\u2019ll be like \u2013 and I\u2019ve sensed this a little bit already \u2013 why did I do that? Why did I say that to Alex Carey? Why did I say those things to Pat Cummins? I wasn\u2019t in full control of what was going on. I was 37 at the time, I feel like I should have known better.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Broad checks with wicketkeeper Carey whether he is allowed to leave his crease<\/p>\n
Broad is talking to The Independent <\/em>before the release of his autobiography, Broadly Speaking<\/em>, which charts his life and career from the boy who proudly watched his dad wearing the family name on his shirt, to the teenager whose talent exploded during a winter in Australia and a late growth spurt, to the cricketer who used his lowest ebbs \u2013 getting hit for six sixes and being sent home from the 2010\/11 Ashes injured and heartbroken \u2013 to become a better player.<\/p>\n He took 604 Test wickets, fifth on the all-time list, yet it is the Ashes which came to define him. Australia brought out his fierce competitive spirit and beating them at The Oval was a fitting end. It was a surprise, too: here was England\u2019s top wicket-taker of the series with perhaps another 100 scalps to take if he really wanted them. And ultimately, he didn\u2019t. Fast bowling is hard on the body and Broad needed a reason to grind away through the winter. Next summer\u2019s schedule against the West Indies and Pakistan didn\u2019t excite him.<\/p>\n It would be easy to yearn for more. All sportspeople are addicts, and when they walk away, they give up many pleasures all at once: in Broad\u2019s case the dopamine hit of taking wickets, the serotonin of team camaraderie, the endorphins of training, the clear purpose of an Ashes on the horizon. He says he is content, but does contentment even exist for someone like that?<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently I\u2019m not chasing that feeling of wickets and chasing that feeling of crowds cheering and that feeling of winning, because I feel very lucky to have had as many of those feelings as I did. I knew that it wasn\u2019t going to last forever. How do I replace that? Maybe I don\u2019t need to replace that. Maybe I don\u2019t need to chase that feeling of that pure adulation. Maybe the feeling of spending more time with my family takes over the need to chase those other feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n Broad kisses his partner Mollie King following his final match<\/p>\n Four months on from The Oval, Broad\u2019s new life is a world away from the heat of an Ashes series. His mornings start around 5.45am when his baby daughter, Annabella, decides it\u2019s time to begin the day. He gives her breakfast, makes himself a coffee and they take a walk around south London. \u201cThe joy of waking up at that sort of time with my daughter is probably the biggest bonus of walking away from the game. Although if we could make that time start with a six\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n There were times in my 20s where I used to put on a tin hat and take the grenades<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He has had plenty of time to reflect and describes writing his book as \u201ctherapeutic\u201d, though reflection is not always a cathartic process. You may have seen the recent video on social media showing Australian players sniggering at the memory of Bairstow\u2019s infamous stumping at Lord\u2019s: Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh are in hysterics as they recall the tension in the lunchroom an hour later. Broad has certainly watched the clip.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw it, and I didn\u2019t watch it with any happiness. I didn\u2019t smile and laugh like they did. But ultimately it\u2019s in the past and it created a great story for the series.\u201d<\/p>\n I suggest England\u2019s players might have seen the funny side if the boot had been on the other foot. \u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d Broad says, pondering the idea for a moment. \u201cI don\u2019t know. I do know that Stokesy wouldn\u2019t have upheld the appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n Bairstow\u2019s dismissal is one of a number of incidents detailed in Broad\u2019s book, in which a couple of themes shine through. He was very superstitious, pouring a drop of champagne on his cap with every series win, and meticulous too, constantly making little notes telling himself to \u201crelax, smile, stick to your process\u201d. He wishes he could have told an 18-year-old Broad to write down his emotions.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my 30s I\u2019d write down, \u2018I\u2019m feeling nervous this morning\u2019. That\u2019s fine, I\u2019m allowed to feel nervous. What am I going to do to counteract that? Well, I\u2019m going to say to Jimmy [Anderson], \u2018I\u2019m feeling a bit nervous and my legs feel heavy\u2019, and he would come back and probably say \u2018yeah, I feel the same\u2019. Then you feel normal. There were times in my 20s where I used to put on a tin hat and take the grenades, just duck away and take the criticism and keep it in my brain.\u201d<\/p>\n Broad finished cricket in love with the game \u2013 and with Bazball<\/p>\n The other theme is his deep love of Bazball, although out of respect for Brendon McCullum the phrase itself is barely mentioned, because Baz hates \u2018Bazball\u2019. Broad was \u2013 is \u2013 a fully fledged disciple of McCullum\u2019s ideals, of putting on a show before obsessing over results. Throughout his childhood, rain or shine, Broad\u2019s mother would ask him the same question in the car on the way home: did you enjoy it? It became a core trait, alongside his famous competitive edge \u2013 finding joy.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted my memories of the game to always be happy and joyful, and I think the last 15 months of my career playing under Stokesy and Baz have guaranteed that I\u2019ll always love the game of cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n Such is the strength of that love that Broad knows his future lies in the game, somewhere. He is not retired, he insists, just embarking on an uncertain new beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether that means punditry, coaching, management, director of cricket, I don\u2019t know. But cricket, I love everything about it. One thing I\u2019ve found in punditry, you still get that big-game feel. You still get to walk on the pitch and see the crowd and be inside the ropes. When I\u2019ve done England-Australia games as a pundit, I still get that same buzz, but without the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n Articulate and honest, Broad would make a compelling pundit. \u201cI would never criticise someone if I don\u2019t think they deserve it. I\u2019m not just going to do it to make headlines. And I\u2019ll always front up like I did as a player: if someone upset me I\u2019d call them or want to speak to them face to face, and I\u2019d always do that and apologise if I felt like I got it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Will it be hard to pass judgement on close friends like Stokes, Joe Root and Jimmy Anderson? \u201cDefinitely, because you know exactly what they\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n Broad and Anderson try their hand at commentary during The Hundred at Trent Bridge<\/p>\n Broad shares a story in his book of the morning after he had told Stokes he was retiring, when he tried to find a quiet moment to tell Anderson before the rest of the team. Broad lured his friend on a coffee run to Starbucks opposite their Kensington hotel, but they were accosted by two eager England fans who latched on so tightly that Broad couldn\u2019t say the words. Eventually he had to drag Anderson on to the team bus to find some privacy.<\/p>\n Now he is enjoying watching Anderson slugging away in winter training on social media with a touch of schadenfreude, enough to cement Broad\u2019s belief that he picked the perfect moment to walk away.<\/p>\n \u201cI did want to finish at the top, I didn\u2019t want to become a declining player. I certainly have had no regrets as of yet. I haven\u2019t had that feeling of the team walking on the field yet without me, so that might come and hit me quite hard at some stage, but it also might not. I\u2019m prepared for that. I knew I could have carried on, I still felt like I was bowling well, I still felt fresh. I played six back-to-back Test matches in the summer which I never expected to play, so I still felt like I had some miles left in the tank. But ultimately in sport, very rarely do you get to choose your ending.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2023\/11\/08\/11\/GettyImages-1583364136.jpg\")
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