Several weeks after one of sport’s greatest Hollywood endings, Stuart Broad received a four-second video from his partner-in-crime Jimmy Anderson.
Anderson had been filming his mate in the England dressing room minutes after Broad dismissed Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey with his final delivery in cricket, to leave the Ashes series in a 2-2 draw, The Sun reports.
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“A few weeks later Jimmy sent this WhatsApp message, he’d been videoing me,” he said.
“I took my boots off, there was blood everywhere, and I chucked them in the bin — that was me signalling, ‘OK, I’m done’.
“I didn’t even remember I’d done that. I was knackered, I’d played six Tests back-to-back, my emotions had been sky high and so low, and when I saw that video it was as if there was this big light shining out like in the movies.”
Broad — one of the favourites on a six-strong shortlist to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award — was a showman who wrote his own scripts.
“I hit the last ball I faced for six and took a wicket to win the Test with my last ball,” he said.
“People say it was a fairytale ending, but what’s the word for something even above a fairytale? I couldn’t have written a script that cool.”
Broad grabbed 22 wickets in that thrilling Ashes as England roared back from 2-0 down and fell short of an almighty comeback thanks to a washed out Fourth Test at Old Trafford.
On the Friday night of The Oval Test, Broad told skipper Ben Stokes he had made the snap decision to retire.
On the Monday evening, he grabbed Australia’s final two wickets to win an enthralling match, taking his career Test tally to 604.
Broad always saved his best for The Ashes — there were matchwinning bursts at The Oval in 2009, Durham in 2013 and an extraordinary 8-15 as the Aussies were rolled over for just 60 at Trent Bridge in 2015.
And it is no coincidence he grew up on tales of his father, Chris, scoring three centuries when England defeated Australia in 1986-87.
“I grew up with the idea that The Ashes is the pinnacle. That’s a lot to do with Dad,” he said.
“Even now, I’ve got the Ashes 86/87 video, ‘On Top Down Under’.
“As a kid, that was on more often than Postman Pat!”
Broad says England’s series was ‘ignited’ by the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow on the final day of the Second Test at Lord’s.
Bairstow wandered from his crease at the end of an over, keeper Carey threw down his stumps, skipper Pat Cummins made a successful appeal, Lord’s erupted in fury and the posh eggs-and-bacon brigade in the Long Room staged a near-riot.
Broad played a central role that day — repeatedly grounding his bat sarcastically, calling Cummins “an absolute disgrace” and telling Carey: “That’s all you’re ever going to be remembered for.”
Stokes hammered a hundred, sharing a century stand with Broad, but they could not prevent the Aussies going two-up in the five-Test series.
“I walked in with Stokes at lunch and the roar just hit us. The hairs on the back of our necks were standing up — a huge ovation,” he said.
“We turned towards the changing rooms. As we got to the door, the booing came in waves — enough for both of us to stop and say, ‘What’s happened?’. It was the Aussies walking in. It stunned me. I’ve never heard that level of noise in such an enclosed space, and especially in the Long Room.
“It told the Aussie players all they needed to know about the decision they’d made.
“I know Pat Cummins is a really good guy but we haven’t seen eye-to-eye on a cricket field.
“My feelings haven’t changed. I’m slightly more relaxed than I was at Lord’s and I do cringe about going into red-mist mode, but I don’t think it was the right decision and I can guarantee Ben Stokes would have made a different one.
“But that Bairstow dismissal ignited the series for us. It dragged out the England-Australia rivalry. We hardly lost a session after it.
“It brought a bit of needle to the next Test at Leeds. I dismissed David Warner in the first over and emotion got the better of me — I ran at the crowd, yelling, ‘Come on!’.
“On the eve of the final day at The Oval, Jonny said, ‘I know what’s going to happen tomorrow — the final wicket will be caught Bairstow, bowled Broad’. At the end I can see myself mouthing to Jonny, ‘You called it!’.”
Previously, Broad had Todd Murphy caught behind with what would have been his final ball had he not claimed a wicket, having flipped the bails at the nonstriker’s end for luck.
Broad, who is expected to join Sky’s commentary team next summer, says he has not regretted his retirement ‘for one second … so far’ and is enjoying spending time with his fiancee, singer Mollie King, and their one-year-old daughter, Annabella.
“It’s been the greatest career I could have wished for, but being a professional sportsperson is selfish,” he said.
“You sacrifice friends’ weddings and family events. At 37, I could genuinely have played another two years but how much would I have missed with my daughter?
“Although, I went on stage at a lunch last week and was introduced as a ‘former England cricketer’ and that didn’t sound right — like ‘wow, I don’t do that any more!’.”
Broad says he is honoured to be among the favourites for SPOTY — alongside another Nottingham-born favourite, England women’s goalkeeper Mary Earps, and Ryder Cup hero Rory McIlroy.
“My schoolmaster and cricket coach, David Steele, won it in the 70s and he was more famous for winning SPOTY than actually playing for England,” he said.
“When Mollie and I go out for a coffee, I’ve had more congratulations on being nominated for this than for so many other achievements.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
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