Stuart Broad 'got a bit lucky' as cricket hero lifts lid on Mollie King marriage plans and being a father
Stuart Broad has opened up on his relationship with Mollie King
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Stuart Broad has revealed he 'got a bit lucky' with the way he retired from cricket.
And the England hero has no regrets about walking away from the sport, especially with a wedding to Mollie King to plan.
Broad left cricket on a high back in the summer, starring during the fifth and final Ashes test.
The 37-year-old got his dream farewell, claiming the last two Australia wickets to ensure England drew the series.
Stuart Broad and Mollie King have a young daughter together named Annabella
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Yet Broad has now modestly claimed he 'got a bit lucky' before retiring, admitting he couldn't have penned a better script if he'd tried.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: “I got a bit lucky.
"On the Friday night, on day two, I was umming and ahing about whether I should step away from the game.
"I was still loving it, bowling well, taking wickets, loving the environment, but ultimately in sport, your time comes at some stage.
“I thought, ‘How long have I got left? I want to leave at the top.’
"So I knocked on Ben Stokes’ door, my captain, and said, ‘That’s me’, on the Friday night and if I’d have been asked to write a script of a fairytale ending, I actually don’t think I’d have built it up as well as it had happened.”
He continued: “To hit my last ball in cricket for six was pretty cool but my job as a bowler is to take wickets, so to take a wicket with my final ever ball to win an ashes test match, having grown up in ashes cricket – my dad played in the ashes in 86/87, it’s something that’s been instilled in my family, so to feel as lucky as I did to take a wicket to win an ashes test with my last ever ball was pretty cool.
“My legs went like jelly and I had to really strengthen my mind to say, ‘Bowl the ball into the pitch, bowl the ball into the pitch.’
"Because my mind is going, ‘It’s your last ever ball.’
“It was a magical last three days, but the last 20 minutes were really cool.”
When asked if Mollie was dragging him into wedding planning, Broad said: "Exactly.
"I've got a bit more time on my hands to get married now."
Last November, Mollie gave birth to a baby girl called Annabella.
And Broad says spending time with his young daughter is important to him after so many years of jetting away all over the world.
“Annabella’s been an absolute dream," he added.
"It’s one of the most incredible things – to be a parent and be a dad and that’s played a huge part in me moving away from the playing side.
“With cricket, you do travel so much, it’s so uncontrolled.
"You’re told you’re going on tour for 12 weeks here, eight weeks there.
“I’ve loved every moment of that, but definitely family life tweaks your mindset a lot and you definitely realise what’s important.
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Stuart Broad says he got a 'bit lucky' when he retired from England cricket duty
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"Annabella won’t be small for a long period of time and these first four or five years are so important.”
Mollie, meanwhile, has said the couple will be hosting their families for Christmas this year.
“We’re getting the family together,” she said.
“It’s a really nice time for us to just slow down, be really present and just have the people around us that we love.
"We’ve got Stuart’s family and my family getting together. Stuart and I are actually hosting Christmas together, it’s our first time so it’s going to be pretty busy I think.”
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