The final day of the final Test of the current Ashes series is to be played on Monday. On Saturday, two days before the end of this match, England's fast bowler Stuart Broad made this match a big opportunity for himself. He announced to say goodbye to his cricket career. When the game ended on the third day of the Oval ground, he was wearing the England jersey. He had just taken off his pad. Returned to the pavilion as a not out batsman
After this he was waiting for the bowler. In such moments, he said, 'Enough is enough, this series will stop after the fifth Test of the Ashes. However, he definitely gave himself a chance to destroy the Australian batsmen for the last time. Although the Australian opening pair did not give him a chance on Sunday, there is definitely a chance for Broad to walk David Warner and lead his team to victory in another Ashes Test. What an interesting coincidence that the boy who once saw his father busy preparing for the Ashes series is bidding adieu to his career as a formidable Ashes series cricketer himself.
On announcing his retirement, Broad said, "I wanted to leave the game playing at the highest level. Nothing is more fun than a match against Australia at the Oval ground. In my opinion this is the right time. I try to give my best in front of the Australian team. I have been liking the struggle of every moment very much. The enthusiasm of the audience is also visible. Broad also told that he always wanted to be a fast bowler. He said, “I know that to be a good bowler, my confidence should be in the sky. I can promise you that whenever I came out to bowl against Australia, my confidence was skyrocketing every single ball I bowled."
By the way, it is interesting to know that Broad had taken the decision of his retirement just 24 hours before telling the world. He first gave this information to the team captain Ben Stokes. When Broad's old partner and his partner with the new ball, James Anderson, came to know, he thought that Broad was joking. Broad's throat choked while telling Joe Root, after which he gave the responsibility of telling everyone to young player Ben Duckett during the warm-up of the team.
During the game at The Oval on Saturday, the entire England team knew that Broad was playing his last match. So when Broad came to the crease to bat, Mark Wood said that it was a great honor to be at the crease with him. In this innings, Broad returned to the pavilion along with his partner Anderson. Broad's success story as a fast bowler is told by the figures themselves. He has 602 wickets in 167 Test matches.
He can also increase the number of wickets slightly in the Oval Test against Australia. He is the fifth most successful bowler in Test history, with only James Anderson taking more wickets than him in the list of fast bowlers. He is only the second cricketer in Test cricket after Shane Warne to have more than five hundred Test wickets and more than three thousand Test runs in his bag. He is the only bowler to take a hat-trick in Test matches twice for England. Not only this, he has been instrumental in helping England win the Ashes series four times.
By the way, Broad's identity as a cricketer is not limited to statistics only. He was a cricketer with natural talent. He has also been very popular among cricket fans. As a fast bowler, he has been such a cricketer who has been compared as 'Unstoppable Force'. The excitement of cricket kept on increasing during his bowling spell.
Whether it was the 2009 Oval Test, or the 2013 Chester-le-Street match or the 2015 Trent Bridge match, these Ashes Tests are still remembered for Broad's bowling. Not only this, be it the Wanderers Test against South Africa, or the Nottingham Test in 2011 or Lord's Test against New Zealand in 2013.
Broad emerged as the champion bowler in these matches. He has shown the feat of taking six wickets in an innings for England, maximum 12 times. Broad was born as a premature baby. He was born 12 weeks ahead of schedule. He weighed only two pounds two ounces at birth. But he emerged as a cricketer of giant stature in English cricket. As a teenager, he went to Australia to play club cricket and after returning from there, he joined the list of the greatest bowlers in Test history.
However, all was not rosy for Broad. Three months before his debut in Test cricket, that infamous stain came in his career, which rarely left him behind.
In the first T-20 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, India's Yuvraj Singh hit Broad for six sixes in a single over. However, on Broad's retirement, Yuvraj Singh not only remembered him, but also congratulated him for the future. At the age of 21, the career of a young fast bowler could have sunk. But Stuart Broad not only returned, but kept his feet. In the early days of his career, it was said that Broad has a lot of advantage due to his length, but he does not have the firepower like Glenn McGrath.
This was also true to some extent, because Broad's bowling average was around 30 till the 74th match in 167 Tests. He was also the T20 captain of England for three years. They had to face defeat in more matches than the number of matches won by the team. It also included the defeat at the hands of the Netherlands in Bangladesh during the 2014 T20 World Cup. This was the last T20 match of his career. After this, he played two ODIs in the 2015 ODI World Cup and in this tournament also the England team was eliminated in the initial round itself.
After this, he focused his entire attention on Test cricket. This is the reason why he became the player with most Test appearances after Sachin Tendulkar, James Anderson, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh. There were occasions in his career when analysts declared the end of his career. He was also dropped from the team for the first Test in 2020 against the West Indies.
Two years later, England were once again playing against the West Indies and Andrew Strauss had pressed the reset button for the Test team, when Broad was left out once again. Even then speculations were made that his career is about to end. After returning from here, Broad has taken a total of 65 wickets till the Oval Test. No other fast bowler has taken so many wickets.
The truth is that the selectors of England have not been able to find another bowler to compete with Broad. The search for a player with character like Broad is also looking far-fetched. There are also a lot of people who dislike Broad in Australia, one reason for this was that he did not return from the crease even after being dismissed in the 2013 Trent Bridge Test.
The review of the Australian team was over, Broad took advantage of it and in the Hobart Test in 2022, he expressed his displeasure over the sky camera and demanded the removal of the robot.
He has been known as a cricketer who expresses his feelings. In the Lord's Test, after Jonny Bairstow was controversially given out stumped, he argued with every Australian to the point of brawling when he came out to bat.
But last week, when Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne was having difficulty with the spectators sitting in front while batting, it was Broad who went to the spectators to explain and persuaded them to sit away from the site screen.
However, in this Test, when the luck of the England bowlers was not supporting, Broad changed the bails of Labushen's wicket, Labushen was out on the very next ball.
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