A feisty cricketer who performed selflessly for his team

From the editor’s desk

It is true cricket lives on even after the very best in business have decided to hang up their cricketing boots. The greats of different eras in different departments of this insatiable game have played their last match as if it were their first, and fans have wished they could catch the man playing more of the game. But like all callings, retirement is also a calling from the farthest corners of one’s heart perhaps, when the soul is willing but the body is too wearied to continue to perform at the highest level. Age hardly matters in sport, and lesser mortals don’t get to play Test matches beyond the limits of their counting fingers, definitely not 167 Test matches. And if you are someone by the name Stuart Broad and you happen to play for one of the most competitive sides in world cricket in contemporary times, you have to have quite a big heart to renounce the world of cricket. Cricket was all about fierce competition, and the best and the worst both are on display when the Ashes is underway. And cricket is a religion in the Indian subcontinent, but the religious fervour of the game is now fast catching up in other countries as well, including in England and Australia. And Broad is Broad. He is always at you when he bowls, and has never been known to let his team down, though challenges have presented themselves before him in the battlefield of the game of cricket.

When former Indian all rounder Yuvraj pays glowing tributes to Stuart Broad, the man who had hit him out of the park in the form of six sixes in an over, gritty Broad has come back and proved his mettle to himself and to the world. Taking to Twitter Yuvraj wrote on July 30 as would anyone who has played Broad, “Congratulations on an incredible Test career one of the finest and most feared red ball bowlers, and a real legend! Your journey and determination have been super inspiring. Good luck for the next leg Broady!”

Stuart Broad, the innocentlooking lad with his blond hair and baby-faced good looks, is feistier than many cricketers the world of cricket has produced. Once the fifth and final Ashes Test is over, no matter who wins or the match is drawn if rain plays spoilsport, Broad’s newball partnership with James Anderson for England would be missed by international cricket. Broad has been instrumental in sustaining the English Test attack for years, and he has done so with intensity and aggression, exhibiting his ability to bounce any batsman to utter submission or remain anchored without too many shots to the fence. He matched Anderson's technical excellence with nicety. While doing the duty of bowling, playing second fiddle to Anderson was never a problem for Broad. And the cricketing world acknowledges now that when Broad and Anderson bowl in tandem, the English attack becomes formidable.

One of Broad’s sterling career performances that will be remembered by the fans for years was when he took 8 for 15 as Australia were bowled out before lunch, in only 18.3 overs, for 60 in an Ashes Test in 2015 on his home ground of Trent Bridge.

Broad has always had the ability to raise his bowling when the need arose for the team. As an instance of that one may reminisce the occasion of his 100th Test in November 2016, when he had taken five wickets in a single spell seven times. Those are the moments he is at his dangerous best as he runs in hard to bowl the very best he has in his arsenal. Sometimes his combative fast bowling would overwhelm him and he would show the volatile side of his temperament for which he has been subjected to criticism as well. But he has been respected wherever he went. The English management showed their belief and appreciation by making him Twenty20 captain, and he led the side on 27 occasions between 2011and 2015. However the management realized he was a very precious Test player who needed to be retained for Test services only. Broad has picked 178 wickets in 121 ODIs, and 65 wickets in 56 T20Is since his international debut in August 2006. In Test cricket, from 167 games he has picked up 602 wickets. He is undeniably a great cricketer of his generation, and will be remembered for his grit and determination in trying conditions across generations. He is in fifth place on the all-time list of Test wicket-takers and is one of only two fast bowlers to take over 600 wickets, alongside his bowling partner Jimmy Anderson. Quite appropriately, Stuart Broad received a guard of honour from Australia as he walked out to bat for one last time in Test cricket during Day Four of the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval on July 30.

Former England captains Michael Atherton and Nassir Hussain feel it was the right decision on the part of Stuart Broad, who has served England very well for so long, to retire at the top of his form in the game.