It probably hasn’t sunk in – Stuart Broad feels accepting retirement will take time

England’s veteran pacer Stuart Broad has admitted that accepting retirement will take time and it hasn’t yet sunk in. Broad played the last Test match of his glorious career against Australia and ended his career on a high as England won by 49 runs to level the Ashes 2-2.

Broad smashed the last ball of his career for a six and also had a fairytale end as he dismissed Alex Carey to win the game for the hosts. The lanky pacer took two wickets in his swansong bowling innings and played a key role in England’s win.

The veteran fast bowler finished his illustrious career with 604 Test wickets in 167 Test matches at an average of 27.68 as he did a fantastic job for England over the years. Broad took a total of 22 wickets (second highest in the series) in five Test matches against Australia at an average of 28.41.

He told Sky Sports during The Hundred: “Ultimately, I just feel really proud of being able to play for England for as long as I have and experience as much as I have. It probably hasn’t sunk in that I won’t bowl another ball or hit another ball. I think that will probably come in a bit of time. But I knew deep down that I wanted to try and finish at the top and Ashes cricket feels like the top for me. It was a pretty cool way to finish.”

Broad gave credit to his wife Mollie for backing him and telling him to follow his heart regarding his retirement decision.

“Probably probably a week or so I was thinking about retirement. I was so focused on the Ashes series. The games were coming so thick and fast. I didn’t really have time to think of anything else. I was quite emotionally tired anyway from what had been a really busy summer so far. But I FaceTimed Mollie on Friday night and she just said ‘you have got to follow your heart. Just go with whatever you are thinking and I’ll support you either way.'”

Meanwhile, England received a lot of support from their home crowd during the Ashes and Broad revealed the Oval was really loud on the final day of the series, which was the last day of his International career.

“The Oval was really loud on Monday. The atmosphere was really awesome. To be out there and the little bail flick, getting a couple of wickets. I think I just made it up and I wish I found it 10 years ago because I would have a few more wickets! Weirdly, Stokesy told me before that over, before I got Todd Murphy out, he said ‘this will be your last over because I’m going to get Woody on with the extra pace’.

Broad will certainly go down as one of the best fast bowlers in the history of the game, not only for England but also for the whole cricket world.