As the Cricketing world was gripped with the tussle between England and Australia in the ongoing Ashes series, the speculation of James Anderson’s retirement continued to simmer among the galleries of English Cricket.
However, by the end of the third day’s play of the 5th Test at The Oval, the fans were left stunned as Anderson’s long time new ball partner Stuart Broad announced retirement bringing curtain to a glorious career.
Stuart Christopher John Broad was born to Chris Broad and Michelle Broad on 24th June 1986. His father Chris Broad was England’s Test Cricketer and was pivotal in 1986-87 Ashes series win in Australia.
It was from him that Broad inherited the warrior character- one that would never give up in his career, in spite of all struggles he endured.
His father was the reason why he started as an opening batsman in his early days at school and the clubs. In fact, at the age of 10 in 1996, he was awarded the Leicestershire Young Cricketers Batsman Award.
He started his career with county cricket for Leicestershire 2nd XI in 2004. A year later, he played his first A list game for the county. In his 2 year stint with the Leicestershire (2005 and 2006) Broad has some of the eye-catching performances, which ultimately lead his International debut in a T20I against Pakistan on 28th August 2006.
His 17 year long cricketing sojourn began precisely here. Two days after his T20I debut, he played his first One Day International against Pakistan.
A year later, he was plummeted for 6 sixes in an over by India’s Yuvraj Singh, in what looked like a hammering blow to his career. But then the occasion lifted Broad and made him stronger and with faith of his team and administration he made his Test Debut against Sri Lanka on 9th December 2007.
Lest it is forgotten, Stuart Broad was only 21 at the time.
Three months later, he was centre of the change in English Cricket.
After losing the first Test on New Zealand tour, England decided to drop their Ashes winning duo Mathew Hoggard and Steve Harmison for the Second Test: this brought about a huge change.
This is when Broad and Anderson came together for the first time.
This was the start of fifteen and half years of enduring partnership on and off the field, which ultimately saw them becoming the highest wicket taking duos in Test Cricket’s history.
In his early years, Stuart Broad continued to perform well despite not being exceptional; his breakthrough moment came in the Ashes of 2009.
The series was tied at 1-1 and teams moved to The Oval, venue of the Fifth and Final Test. It was here that Broad delivered the final punch with a stunning spell in which he finished with 5-37; England won the Test by 197 runs and the series by 2-1.
By this time, Broad was an all-format player. In 2010, when England won their first ever World Cup, he took 8 wickets at 17.50.
Broad has always been a capable batsman; against Pakistan at Lords in 2010, he made 169 and added 332 runs with Jonathan Trott. Perhaps an effort that still isn’t talked about a great deal.
While he couldn’t feature in all the Tests during the 2010-11 historic series win in Australia, but being the part of first two Tests, he earned the distinguished feat much like his father to win an Ashes series in Australia.
It was the time when Broad continued to be “Mr. reliable” for England; in 2011 he took 25 wickets against India in 4 Tests. He, however, loves Australia, for it brings best out of him.
In the 2013 English summer, he took 34 wickets in 7 Tests (12 against New Zealand in 2 Tests and 22 against Australia in 5 Tests). Later that year, he was standout player in Australia; while the team lost by 0-5, he took 24 wickets in 5 Tests.
Stuart Broad was equally good in ODI Cricket and T20 Internationals; in ODI’s he has 178 wickets in 121 games. While in T20I’s, he has 65 wickets from just 56 games at an exceptional average of 22.93.
The secret of his longevity and success was that he gave up ODI cricket long ago. His last ODI was at the age of 29 in January 2016 against South Africa and he never played a T20I for England after 2014.
His preference and devotion for Test Cricket ensured his remarkable Test Career later.
In 2015, Broad gave one of the finest performances in Ashes Cricket. In taking an 8-15 at Trent Bridge, his mesmerising spell helped England secure the Ashes by 3-2 in the end.
Next year, he was instrumental in taking 18 wickets in series win in South Africa by a margin of 2-1.
It isn’t that the ride was rosy, there were more bumpy days ahead in this journey. After having a poor year in 2017 and 2018, where he dropped in the favour; he once again bounced back in 2019-2021 Test Championship picking up 69 wickets in 17 matches at just 20.08.
Age didn’t affect his performances nor made him ordinary; the 2021-2023 ICC Test Championship saw him picking 43 wickets in 11 matches at 28.32. Even in the current English summer, he has picked 26 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 26.
This Monday is his last day in English Test shirt as the whole country would be standing and applauding one of the finest cricketer that England have ever produced ever.
A bowler that can’t be matched for his passion and commitment to upholding the pride of Test match cricket.
Stuart Broad Career– Bowling
| Format | Matches | Balls | Runs | Wickets | Average | Best | 5 wick | 10 Wick |
| Tests | 166 | 33454 | 16608 | 600 | 27.68 | 8-15 | 20 | 03 |
| ODI | 121 | 6109 | 5364 | 178 | 30.13 | 5-23 | 1 | 0 |
| T20I | 56 | 1173 | 1491 | 65 | 22.93 | 4-24 | 0 | 0 |
| FC | 264 | 49882 | 25323 | 948 | 26.71 | 8-15 | 32 | 04 |
| LIST A | 151 | 7496 | 6591 | 216 | 30.51 | 5-23 | 1 | 0 |
| T20 | 85 | 1788 | 2144 | 100 | 21.44 | 4-24 | 0 | 0 |
Some Important Facts
• Stuart Broad is the 4th highest in terms of most Test matches played after Sachin Tendulkar (200), James Anderson (183) and Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting (168) who are jointly at #3.
• Among the pacers only James Anderson with 183 Tests has played more Tests than him.
• He is also the 5th highest wicket taker in Tests after Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, James Anderson and Anil Kumble.
• He is the second-highest wicket taker in terms of pace bowler after his new ball partner James Anderson.
• James Anderson and Stuart Broad have the most number of wickets as Test pairs in history of the game.
• Along with Anderson, Broad formed a famous new ball pair and the duo have played for 15.5 years, which is probably the longest among all bowlers.
• He has the second highest number of Tests wickets in England and is second only to James Anderson (431).
• He sits on #4 with 178 wickets in ODI list of all time wicket takers for England behind James Anderson (269), Darren Gough (234) and Adil Rashid (183).
Note- image taken from Criiic World (www.ipl.ae)
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