Ashes: 'This will be your last over...': Broad reveals real-time chat with Ben Stokes before Murphy's wicket

One of Test cricket greats, Stuart Broad, announced his international retirement during the fifth Ashes Test at the Kia Oval in London. On his last day in whites, during the final session, Broad even picked two wickets in Todd Murphy and Alex Carey to hand England an impressive 49-run win. However, all that transpired on the field wasn’t as smooth and straightforward as the jubilation made it look.

Broad, who ended his career on a high note with 604 Test wickets – second-most by a seamer in the red-ball format, revealed the real-life talk between him and Captain Ben Stokes before the over in which he dismissed Murphy caught behind.

While many may point out Broad’s ‘mental-game tactics’ of altering the bails as the reason behind him getting lucky and tasting success against Murphy, the seamer himself dropped a bombshell, saying Stokes had informed him just before that it would be his last as Ben wanted to bring in Mark Wood for extra pace.

"Weirdly, Stokesy told me before that over, before I got Todd Murphy out, he said 'this will be your last over because I'm going to get Woody on with the extra pace'. So, I was running in knowing that would be my last ball in professional cricket. My legs went a bit jelly-like when I was running in,” Broad said, as quoted by Sky Sports.

The right-hand seamer added instead of thinking otherwise, he planned to bring his A-game and thought about banging it hard, expecting the ball to move away, which eventually happened.

Much like everyone, even he got shocked when Murphy edged it to the keeper.

"I was saying to myself 'just hit the pitch as hard as you can, try and get the ball to move away. But whack the pitch, don't bowl a floaty half-volley for your last ball in international cricket, and he nicked it. That's why I reacted like 'Oh my, he's nicked it, he's nicked it'."

"It just felt really special to finish on a win and be in the change room with all the guys that I have played so much cricket with," Broad added.

‘It hasn’t sunk in’

Just days after hanging his boots from international cricket, Broad admits that the feeling hasn’t sunk in yet, as he continues to take pride in representing England for 16 years and playing across all formats.

"Ultimately, I just feel really proud of being able to play for England for as long as I have and experience as much as I have. It probably hasn't sunk in that I won't bowl another ball or hit another ball. I think that will probably come in a bit of time. But I knew deep down that I wanted to try and finish at the top and Ashes cricket feels like the top for me. It was a pretty cool way to finish," Broad said.

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