Stuart Broad has revealed the wicket of Todd Murphy on the final day of the Ashes series was going to be his last ball in international cricket.
The 37-year-old announced his retirement at the end of day three of his 167th Test.
England needed two wickets to win in the closing stages at the Oval and ultimately draw the series as Australia continued to knock off the 383 runs needed in order to claim their first series victory on these shores since 2001.
Broad says he had been told by captain Ben Stokes that he would be replaced by Mark Wood before his delivery to Murphy, but got the fairytale ending to his professional career by having Murphy caught behind before claiming his final victim, Alex Carey, a couple of overs later.
He told Sky Sports: “Actually Stokesy said to me before the Todd Murphy wicket that this will be my last over because we need to get Woody on with the extra pace.
“That (wicket) was the last ball of the over and I was running in knowing that was my last ball of professional cricket and my legs went a bit jelly like as I was running in.
“I just said to myself ‘just hit the pitch as hard as you can’ and he nicked it and that’s why I was like ‘oh my god he’s nicked it’.
“I managed to get another over so it felt really special to finish on a win and be in the changing room with all the guys I’ve played so much cricket with.”
Broad, England’s second-highest Test wicket-taker of all time, did not tell his team-mates until the morning of the day he went public with the news, admitting he was still “emotionally tired” on the decision.
He continued: “I was so focused on the Ashes series and the games were coming so thick and fast, I didn’t really have time to think of anything else and had to be fully dedicated to the task at hand.
“Probably towards the end of Old Trafford I started to think, the start of the last Test is next week, I’m thinking where should I go and just could not think clearly enough.
“I was emotionally tired on what was already a busy summer so far but I facetimed Mollie (Broad’s fiancee) on the Friday night and she said ‘you’ve just got to follow your heart and say what you think and I’ll support you either way’.
“I put the Facetime down and went to Stokesy’s room, shook his hand and just told him straight away ‘that’s me. It’s been an absolute pleasure to play with you as a team-mate and a friend, and you’ve been a dream captain so thank you’ and once I made that decision, I felt at peace with it straight away.”
The seamer developed a new tactic to switch the bails on top of the stumps in an attempt to disrupt the batter.
On both occasions a wicket fell – Marnus Labuschagne nicked Mark Wood straight into the hands of Joe Root in the first innings before Murphy edged behind to set England on their way to victory.
He said: “It was really special and really loud on Monday, the atmosphere was awesome out there and the little bail flick and getting a couple of wickets.
“I just made it up and I wish I made it about 10 years ago as I might have found a few more wickets!”
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