Stuart Broad retired after 167 test matches. Photo: Getty Images/Gareth Copley. champagne as a farewell gift to each of us who wrote a private message.
It was hard to fit 15 years of cricket into a couple of sentences. I just wrote, “It's hard to know where to start. Thank you for all the memories, I owe you so much.” Perhaps I will send him a small gift in the next few weeks when I think about it properly. We were talking about a photo where we go to the bat on the fifth day at the Oval, maybe I'll get a couple of these blown up. This is definitely the only picture I would like to hang in my house.
Stuart Broad and James Anderson take the field on day five of the Ashes' final test at the Oval. Photo: Getty Images/Alex Davidson
Stuart told me about his departure for a cup of coffee before we boarded the team bus for the third day of the game. At first I was a little shocked, but when it dawned on me, it was not a surprise. He thought about it last summer, but Baz and Stokes managed to talk him out.
Then if you look back on the Ashes series, as he himself said, it was the perfect way to get out. It's good that we didn't walk together at the same time. We have always been bracketed as a partnership but he is one of the best bowlers England has ever produced so he deserves his removal.
There have been several goodbyes at the Oval besides Stewart. Moin Ali was also retiring, and our physio Steve Griffin is retiring because he got promoted. So there were a few presentations and we all said a few words about the summer, so we skipped drinking with the Aussies. It was just bad timing. When we finished they left. We were also disappointed because we were looking forward to having a drink with them. It wasn't a snub or anything like that. We later saw some at a nightclub and then caught up.
“I don’t know how I will retire in the future. I could easily just see me a couple of days after the game thinking I'm done and keep it a secret. The fourth night at the Oval was my birthday and I had a drink with Stewart and Alastair Cooke, who also had an incredible send-off with a hundred against India. I told them, not too sentimentally, that I was honored to play with two great players, but they are also great teammates. It will be really something special to leave the game one day with two very close friends.
On a professional level, Stewart leaves a big hole for me. We didn't realize it at the time, but when we were young we were in direct competition, so we raised our standards to compete. When we started playing together, we complemented each other and understood each other's game, how we tried to take wickets and what we could do to help. As the years went by, we bought into our respective games. I was his trainer and he was my trainer.
Brod and Anderson helped each other throughout their careers, although they were rivals in the beginning. Photo: Getty Images/Hamish Blair
Whether it was in practice or in a game, when he stood in the middle watching me and saying, «Maybe you're running too fast, or maybe you were trying to do this or that,» it was a huge help and something that I will definitely miss. But we also tried to convey this to the other guys, to show them how important it is to understand each other, and not just themselves.
As for me, I just want to take a couple of months off. I will continue to train and work in the gym, but bowling might take a backseat a little. I just need to get away from him. It feels like it's been a constant bowling line for the past few weeks, so take a little break from it and then see where I'm in a couple of months.
Then I'll think about New Year's and whatever happens. In the chats I've had with England, I've said that I haven't made the contribution I wanted to this series of games on the pitch, but I feel like I have a lot to offer to a team that's going somewhere like India in new year.
Now I feel like I want to leave. But this is not my decision. It's up to the breeders, but I'll keep myself in good shape for the next few months and then in October I'll start flipping my arm again and get the bowling back to zero because it's been a bit out of whack this summer. Then look forward to next year. There will be county games in September, but I'm not sure if they'll really be in my field of vision.
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