Ashes - Fifth Test - England v Australia - The Oval, London, Britain - July 30, 2023 England's Stuart Broad and James Anderson put their arms around each other as Broad receives a guard of honour from the Australian players before the start of the day's play. (Reuters) The emotions haven’t really sunk in at The Oval since Stuart Broad announced he’ll retire from cricket at the end of the ongoing Ashes Test match.
Former England skipper Alastair Cook, who captained the side to number one Test rankings with Broad by his side would also pen down an emotional note for the veteran seamer in his Sunday Times column.
“Very few of us are privileged enough to choose how we bow out,” Cook wrote. “He deserves that. As I watched him announce his retirement on Sky Sports, I felt quite emotional. I will genuinely miss watching him play.”
“Only Jimmy [James Anderson] is left now from the team who got to No. 1 in the Test rankings and are the only England side to have won the Ashes in Australia since 1986-87. I remember him telling me how much he was looking forward to us all having a glass of red together when we were all retired. Broady, I’ll have the bottle ready but first there’s a job to be finished in south London,” he added.
With just one wicket left in the second England innings, Broad walked out to bat with Anderson on Day 4, guiding England to 395 in an unbeaten cameo with the bat that saw him pull Mitchell Starc over deep mid wicket for a six off what would turn out to be his last ball in professional cricket.
In response, Australian openers added 135 runs for the first wicket with both David Warner and Usman Khawaja scoring half centuries before rain halted play, pushing the fate of the match and the series to its very last day.
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