Considered Retirement After Getting Dropped: Stuart Broad

England star seamer Stuart Broad turned the series around for his side against the West Indies on his return in the second Test. However, Stuart Broad’s axing for the first Test at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton left him frustrated and angry with the hosts losing the Test by four wickets too.

Instead, the Englishmen with Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, who were not as effective. The Nottinghamshire seamer’s frustration extended to the point of even considering retirement.

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As England management decided to leave out Stuart Broad for the first Test of their home season, it ended his streak of 51 consecutive home Tests. Despite the veteran’s stellar show in the months before that, he could not make it to the playing eleven. However, on his return in Manchester, he snapped 16 wickets and also scored a blazing fifty in the third Test. In the final Test, which was his 140th, he also crossed the milestone of 500 Test scalps. Ultimately, the home side won the series by 2-1.

Stuart Broad revealed that the thought of retiring was one hundred per cent going through his mind after hearing he was not going to feature in the first Test. The 34-year-old added that he had not felt as disheartened before in his career when he got dropped. Stuart Broad further said that when stand-in-captain Ben Stokes informed him of the decision, he was spellbound and was unable to utter any word.

“Were there thoughts of retirement going round my head? One hundred per cent. Because I was so down. I can’t think of many times I have been down like that. When I have been dropped before, I can go ‘Fair enough, good decision, can’t really argue with that. This time, when Stokesy told me I wasn’t playing, I felt my body go into shakes. I could barely speak,” Broad told The Mail on Sunday.

Stuart Broad talks about playing in a bio-secure bubble:

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the players had to stay in the bio-secure bubble to steer clear of the virus and adhere to all the safety protocols too. The swing bowler conceded that when in such an environment, there is nothing but cricket in one’s life from waking up till going to bed.

“When you are in the bio-secure bubble and you are in a room in a hotel that is on the cricket ground, you wake up and the cricket ground is there and you are surrounded by cricketers the whole time and everything is crickety, then cricket is life,” England’s second-highest Test wicket-taker added.

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