“Last ball wicket to win Ashes Test is pretty cool”: Stuart Broad after retirement

London [UK]: English pacer Stuart Broad scripted a perfect farewell for himself as he took a wicket in the last ball of his international career in the fifth and final Ashes Test to guide his team to a win at the Oval.

England pacer Stuart Broad on Saturday announced that the ongoing fifth Test match of the Ashes series will be the last match of his international cricket career.

“It was absolutely wonderful, the crowd were unbelievable. It was so loud and we just jumped on the back of that. To contribute to the team with two wickets is very special.

When you make that decision you wonder what your last ball will be so to take a wicket to win an Ashes Test match is pretty cool,” Broad told Sky Sports at the close.

Game-changing spells by England’s Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali denied Australia their first Ashes win away from home since 2001, defeating the visitors by 49 runs in the fifth and final Ashes Test in London on Monday.

“I thought Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali set the tone absolutely unbelievably. Woakesy picked up a couple of wickets, particularly Steve Smith, who has just been a wonderful player to play against all these years. Once we got a couple we really started to believe,” he added.

Broad mentioned Moeen Ali, who has also announced the fifth Ashes Test to be his last match as a “special friend”.

“A special mention to Moeen, he’s not officially announced he’s moving on, but we’ve played a lot together and he’s been such a special friend,” Broad added. “To put that performance in to help England win an Ashes Test match will be a dream come true for him,” Broad added.

Broad has taken 602 wickets in 167 Test matches he has played. He has also scored 3656 runs at an average of 18 with 1 century and 13 fifties in Test cricket.

In ODIs, Broad has featured in 121 games taking 178 scalps. His best bowling effort in the 50-over format to date is 5/23 while in T20Is, he has 65 wickets in 56 matches, with his best being 4/24.

Meanwhile, in the T20I format, he has played 56 matches and taken 65 wickets with an average of 22.93.