The ultimate Ashes competitor – Broad on walking, Warner and that final wicket

There are plenty of contenders for the most famous first ball of an Ashes series.

Phillip DeFreitas is being slashed by Michael Slater for four. Stephen Harmison’s wide. Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns. Zak Crawley crunching Pat Cummins through the covers.

One man has the details right for the most famous final ball.

Stuart Broad’s place in Ashes history was already assured before his fairytale finale at The Oval two years ago.

The celebrations that have become a part of English cricketing folklore include the headband, Alex Carey’s edge, and the bail-switching.

“I feel like extremely lucky it ended the way it did,” Broad tells BBB Sport. “My last ever professional ball, taking that favourite wicket you could ever take – last wicket to win a Test, against Australia, crowd going berserk.

” I’ll never get bored of talking about it because it takes me back to a feeling and a moment that was so special. “

Everything that had already happened made Broad’s final appearance as an England cricketer flawless. The 604 Test wickets were more than enough for a hall-of-fame career, but few England players are as synonymous with Ashes cricket as Broad.

No England bowler has taken more wickets than Broad’s 153. No fast bowler on either side has played more than Broad’s 40 Ashes Tests. Few people have participated in as many Ashes battles, planned as many special events, or produced as many memories as the numbers suggest.

Broad’s life has been entwined with Ashes cricket and his early career was heavily influenced by Australia.

Broad’s father Chris, who was playing for England on the successful Ashes tour of 1986-1987, scored three hundred for England at the age of six months old. The young Broad’s cricketing hero was Australia metronome Glenn McGrath, and his development was accelerated by a spell as an 18-year-old with Melbourne club Hoppers Crossing.

Three years after joining the Hoppers, Broad began playing Test cricket. With a baby face and bouncing blond hair, the Draco Malfoy lookalike was a bowler of obvious promise but no clear identity. Broad put on a performance that made him feel at home in an England shirt two years into his career, earning his 22nd cap in the fifth and deciding Ashes Test.

When he was handed the ball on the second day, his career bowling average stood at an unsatisfactory 37.63. In nine overs, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, and Brad Haddin were all removed to push the urn into English hands, which was the first of Broad’s signature spells.

” I walked off the field and felt ‘ maybe I do belong in this England shirt’, “says Broad.

The next time Broad was an Ashes winner, England’s famous triumph down under in 2010-11, he played only two Tests before his series was ended by a side injury. Before returning home to watch the rest of the series from his sofa, he sobbed as England team doctor Nick Pierce gave him a hug in the Adelaide Oval’s dressing room. He spent the third Test with the Test Match Special team in Perth before returning home to watch the series in its entirety.

Broad was two from two in Ashes series, but his role as the Pom the Aussies loved to hate was not forged until 2013.

In the first Test, Broad’s edge off Ashton Agar’s spin deflected off Haddin’s glovebox and into Clarke’s hands at first slip. Broad did not walk, Australia were out of reviews and the runs he went on to add helped England win the match.

Haddin’s inability to hang on to the edge caused Broad’s brass neck to look worse, according to Broad’s defense, but that did not stop Australia coach Darren Lehmann from calling him a “blatant cheat” who “hoped” cries and goes home in the return series down under six months later.

Broad knew he was going to cop it, not least when the Brisbane Courier Mail refused to print his name and ran a headline calling him a ‘ smug Pommie cheat’.

He says, “In the warm-up games, I walked on my own or with the psychologist around the boundary.” If you walk around the Gabba there might be 45, 000 people, so you just hear noise. Every word is heard if you walk around during a warm-up session with only 100 people in attendance.

“I wanted to build a shield around me. To comfort me, I listened to the abuse. I worked with the psychologist, because I knew it was coming, to strengthen my resolve.

The boos were unbelievable when my name was revealed that I was bowling my first ball at the Gabba.

“The day before, I’d done my pre-match mental routine. I imagined the boos as I sat at the end of my mark and bowled four overs. I could feel it. I had already been there before, I thought. It definitely fazed me. A short one that was hit for four first ball was the no-ball I bowled. It was quite overwhelming”.

Broad, who had the Courier Mail tucked under his arm, recovered from that experience and took five wickets that evening. It was England’s best day in a series where they were dismantled by Mitchell Johnson and lost 5-0.

Eighteen months later, Broad put his own pieces together in a groundbreaking and Ashes-clinching performance.

In the fourth Test on his home ground of Trent Bridge, Broad was bowling England’s first over for the first time in the absence of the injured James Anderson. Broad urged captain Alastair Cook to bat first if he won the toss using his local knowledge.

“I was marking my run-up out and Shane Warne came over and said ‘ That’s a bowl first, isn’t it? “,” Broad says. “I remember thinking Shane Warne is bat first everywhere. If he believes bowl first,…

” I went over to Cookie. ‘ A bowl might come first, chef. He said ‘ Don’t worry, I’ve made that call already’. “

Broad’s legs were pounding. Australian edges were swallowed by England slip fielders. The pace bowler’s 8-15 figures are still the best in Ashes history. Australia were torn apart in 18.3 overs and 94 minutes. All out, 60.

” You can’t take it in, “says Broad”. I got the five-for, it appeared on a large screen, and I had no idea what to do.

The 2015 series marked Broad’s final Ashes victory. England were again blown away down under in 2017-18 and the following contest in the UK was drawn 2-2.

Ben Stokes’ exploits are remembered by many people in 2019, but Broad’s triumph was when he strangled David Warner. Seven times in five Tests Broad got Warner, part of an overall hoodoo of 17 dismissals. Only two other bowlers have ever dismissed the same batter more frequently in a test.

“Technically, I worked him out at the back end”, says Broad. He didn’t hit the ball through the square leg and didn’t hit it straight through mid-on after doing a lot of strategy and stats work.

” In 2019 I made a complete technical shift to try to hit his leg stump. If it went down the leg side, I didn’t care. I said to Jonny Bairstow, the wicketkeeper, just understand I’m going to be bowling leg side so make sure you give yourself some room.

Even with Broad knocking over Warner twice more in the three Tests he played in Australia in 2021-22, England were once again hammered 4-0. Broad would later end up with the Aussies by suggesting that the series should be “void” due to the limitations imposed on the England squad in Covid.

Broad was left out in the aftermath of that tour, only to be recalled when Stokes and Brendon McCullum were installed as captain and coach respectively.

No other pace bowler took more Test wickets in what turned out to be Broad’s final year of career, and Broad was the one who led England’s attack even with his old teammate Anderson chasing his 700th scalp.

In the epic 2023 Ashes series, when England were denied the greatest comeback of all time by the Manchester rain, Broad was the only home seamer to play all five Tests.

“Deep down,” says Broad, “I always knew I wanted my final professional game to be in an England shirt.”

“I wanted to finish at the top. You must make the call in order to accomplish that. You don’t want to go on too long. I was concerned that a 21-year-old would play against me and say, “I thought he was supposed to be good.” I definitely could have played another couple of years”.

One more opportunity to criticize the Australians, one more opportunity to be at the center of a hot Ashes feud, was waiting before the denouement.

When Bairstow was controversially stumped by Carey at a baying Lord’s, Broad was next in to join Stokes. When Carey and Australia captain Pat Cummins were to be criticized and heckled, it was this one time. Stokes and Cummins were furious and yelled at the tourists.

“It was red mist to start”, says Broad. It was walking over that line and feeling Lord’s energy, not necessarily my opinion of the dismissal.

” Something triggered inside me that anyone in a green hat was getting it. I had a very competitive side, and I grew. After about 20 minute I started working with Stokesy and quite deliberately twisted the situation our way. We looked to carry that out because my behavior may have sucked the Australians out of their trip to Stokesy.

“I remember getting home, sitting with my partner Mollie and we were watching a compilation BBB Sport had put together of the nonsense I’d done. I was filled with embarrassment. ‘Oh my goodness me. What on earth was I doing?’ I was 36 years old. How did I let myself get to that stage?”

Despite the Broad-Stokes assault, England were well beaten, 2-0 down and staring into the abyss.

“We had situations where we put ourselves on the back foot, so we would have sung the line that day, and that day there would have been the narrative that “england have thrown this away,”” says Broad.

To The Oval, with a series to draw and, as it turned out, a career to end. Broad visited Stokes’ hotel room on the evening of the final Test.

“I knocked on Stokesy’s door, wandered in, held out my hand out and said ‘ that’s me, mate'”, says Broad. “Stokesy just extended me a massive hug,” said S.

” I said to him as I left the room ‘ don’t tell anyone’, because I needed to see how I would feel the next morning.

“I woke up, I pulled the curtains open, and it felt right.” The first person I called was my dad, then my mum, then (England managing director) Rob Key. When I first arrived that morning, I informed the changing room, and I also informed the press that evening.

What followed was a joyous celebration of all things Broad, scripted to the very last ball.

He struck the final six-of-a-kind delivery he faced as a batter. In a legendary moment of sporting theatre, Broad had Carey caught behind to win the Test and square the series. Broad was no longer a member of England when the ball snuck into Bairstow’s glove.

“It was the best. “Incredible,” says Broad. “That saying to ‘ play like it’s your last game’. It was, after all. Go and have some fun and some freedom – be a bit silly.

I’m never going to feel that way again, even if I bowl another 5, 000 balls. I feel so content with how it ended. “

He has no desire to “lace the boots up” and confront Australia once more now that the next Ashes are on the horizon, the first in almost 20 years, are on the horizon.

” It’s everything you wish for as a player, “Broad says”. Everything about you is tested. It brings out emotion, character, mental strength, technical ability and physical hardship.