Sports
Stuart Broad ‘100%’ considered retirement after being dropped
England seam bowler Stuart Broad says he considered retirement after being dropped for last month’s opening Test of the summer against West Indies.
Broad, 34, was left out at Southampton, where West Indies won by four wickets.
He returned for the final two Tests, both won by England, and took 16 wickets to pass 500 for his career.
“Were there thoughts of retirement going round my head? 100%. Because I was so down,” Broad told the Mail on Sunday.
“I was expecting to play, which is always a bit of a dangerous thing in sport but I felt I deserved to play.
“When Stokesy [Ben Stokes] told me I wasn’t playing, I felt my body go into shakes. I could barely speak.”
Only six other bowlers in history have taken more Test wickets than Broad, who has played 140 Test matches.
The 16 wickets he took in the final two Tests against West Indies at Old Trafford came at an average of 10.93.
He added: “I have not really told anyone this but I was so down that week of the first Test, I was really low. I was stuck in that hotel. I couldn’t go anywhere. It wasn’t like I could go back to [girlfriend] Mollie and have a barbeque and chill out and reassess.
“I didn’t sleep for two days. I was nowhere. A different decision could definitely have been made with my emotions of how I was feeling.”
Broad, who is now targeting 600 Test wickets, also revealed that Stokes, who was captaining in England in the first Test in the absence of Joe Root, then played a key role.
“Stokesy knocked on my door on the Thursday night and stayed in the corridor to talk to me. He said: ‘This isn’t about cricket, but how are you, mate?’ That was very impressive for him to do.”
Broad made his Test debut in 2007 and for most of his career has been bracketed with new ball partner Anderson, 38, England’s record Test wicket-taker, who has 589 wickets, having made his debut in 2003.
“Do I think I’m in England’s best XI? Absolutely. Do I think Jimmy Anderson is in England’s best XI? Absolutely,” he said.
“There is no doubt that Jimmy and I have got better. No doubt.
“The last 18 months, I have been averaging 20.5 per wicket in Test cricket. Take age out of that. If anyone were doing that at any age, you would want to keep them around for a bit and not look past it.”(BBC)
The final week of the year is like a Roman feast for the Test cricket fan, and Boxing Day this year promises mouth-watering contests in Melbourne and Centurion but look this way too, will you? Bulawayo is set to host Zimbabwe’s first Boxing Day Test 8n 28 years too, and with unpredictable Afghanistan on the other side, a real tussle is expected between the two teams, who despite their recent underwhelming performances, would feel like they’re favourites. After all, the last time either side won a Test was against each other.
But that was way back 8n 2021. Since then, they have not found a way to win. And one look at the Zimbabwe and Afghanistan squads for this two-Test series suggests that they’re both looking to change that by taking a different direction for 2025 and beyond. A splattering of Test debutants are expected – theoretically, there could be as many 15 debuts across the two XIs – and this series could very well be the one that births a new generation.
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahinda College, Galle took firm control of their two-day Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ cricket encounter as they reached 213 for nine wickets at stumps after restricting Moratu Vidyalaya to 96 runs at Galle on Wednesday.
After Arosha Udayanga grabbed five wickets to trouble the visitors, the home team topped 200 runs thanks to a century by open batsman Dulsith Darshana and a half century by Senuka Dangamuwa.
While Darshana scored 13 fours and a six in his 106 which came in 143 balls, Dangamuwa hammered nine fours and a six in his 50 which came in 51 balls.
Mahinda are in search of their first outright victory in the tournament proper after having earned first innings points in two out of the three matches in their group.
Moratu Vidyalaya too have completed three matches and have scored first innings points on one occasion.
Scores
Moratu Vidyalaya
96 all out in 45.2 overs (Sanjana Senavirathna 31, Shehara Fernando 20; Arosha Udayanga 5/35)
Mahinda
213 for 9 in 52 overs (Dulsith Darshana 106, Senuka Dangamuwa 50; Isuru Nidharshana 2/64, Nishitha Fernando 5/45)
by Reemus Fernando
Sri Lanka Athletics has suspended track and field official S. W. Nimalsiri for four years after a three member committee appointed by the sports governing body found him guilty of manhandling leading athletic official G.L.S. Perera within the Sri Lanka Athletics premises in Torrington.
“The executive committee of Sri Lanka Athletics decided to hand Nimalsiri a four year suspension after the three member committee concluded that he was guilty of manhandling the respected official,” Saman Kumara Gunawardhana, the secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics told The Island.
At the time of the suspension Nimalairi was a committee member of Sri Lanka Athletics and is the president of the Ace Athletics Club and secretary of the Colombo District Athletics Association.
The three member committee that inquired the incident involving Nimalairi and Perera was headed by retired district court judge Upali Samaraweera. Others in the committee were former director of sports Padma Siriwardana and disciplinary committee chairman of Sri Lanka Athletics Chandana Ekanayake.
Nimalsiri has also been suspended from officiating in track and field competitions.
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