Stuart Broad RETIRES from all forms of cricket at the end of this fifth and final Ashes

Stuart Broad hopes to go out on the highest of highs today with a series-levelling victory over Australia after deciding this final Ashes Test and the 167th of his career will be his last.

Broad, 37, will retire upon the conclusion of this match following a 17-year career that has seen him become England’s second most prolific Test bowler overall behind close friend and new ball partner Jimmy Anderson, and the number one when it comes to Ashes wickets.

He will now join Sky Sports’ commentary team with immediate effect, after deciding to quit playing while still at the top of his game rather than hold on to tour India in early 2024.

Only Australia’s Mitchell Starc has managed more than the 20 wickets that Broad has taken during an Ashes series in which he became only the fifth player in Test history to reach the 600 mark and the first Englishman to take 150 against Australia, surpassing Ian Botham’s tally of 148 in the process.

Mail Sport understands that Broad decided the time was right at the close of the second day’s play of a contest at the Kia Oval that Ben Stokes’ team must win to secure a 2-2 draw.

Stuart Broad will retire upon the conclusion of the final Ashes Test following a 17-year career

The 37-year-old will now join Sky Sports’ cricket commentary team with immediate effect

Broad decided the time was right at the close of the second day’s play of a contest at the Oval

He informed long-standing team-mates Anderson and Joe Root of his decision before play on Saturday morning, and was said to be fighting back tears in the process.

England fed off the emotion on Saturday, powering their way to a lead in excess of 300 runs on the third day.

The news comes just hours after fellow veteran Anderson, 41, insisted he had more to offer at the highest level.

Exiting centre stage on his own terms and at the end of the most prestigious of series feels appropriate.

Like his father Chris, facing Australia has brought out the best in Broad: his five-wicket burst at the Oval in 2009 set up victory and a 2-1 series win while his eight for 15 at Trent Bridge in 2015 was one of the great Ashes performances.

He informed long-standing team-mates Anderson and Joe Root (above) of his decision before play on Saturday morning, and was said to be fighting back tears

Ben Stokes’ team must win to secure a 2-2 draw against Australia in this year’s Ashes Test

In between, he also ransacked the Australian batting with a man-of-the-match performance at Chester-le-Street in 2013 as England eased to a 3-0 victory.

But he has also been public enemy number one in Australian cricket circles, the target of booing from the stands during the winter of 2013-14, triggered by a refusal to walk after nicking behind in the Trent Bridge Test the previous summer.

He has also gained a reputation for revving up the atmosphere in home Tests with his gesticulating to crowds and was this week involved in another Aussie-riling moment when he randomly walked up to the striker’s end and switched the bails – Marnus Labuschagne countered his way from the field after edging the very next delivery.

Broad’s early career saw him feature across all three international formats and he came back from being hit for six sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh at the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup by being a member of the team that lifted England’s first ever global trophy at the same event in the Caribbean three years later.

The Nottinghamshire seamer also captained England in T20 cricket for a period before concentrating on Test cricket from 2016 onwards.

England had already moved away from him and Anderson following a disastrous 50-over World Cup the previous year.

His resurgence under the captaincy of Ben Stokes followed a controversial omission for the tour of the Caribbean in the spring of last year, and followed another episode in 2020 when his omission from a Test against West Indies in Southampton triggered a public outburst and him to contemplate whether he had an England future.

Now, however, he will have the chance to say goodbye in style to Test cricket and will do so with only Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Anderson above him statistically amongst its bowlers.

H will have the chance to say goodbye in style to Test cricket and will do so with only Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Anderson above him statistically