England seamer Stuart Broad has revealed he was "so down" after being dropped for the first Test match against the West Indies that he considered retirement.
Broad, 34, who said he is bowling as well as ever, returned to the side for the second and third Tests and played a key role as England rallied to win the series 2-1.
"Were there thoughts of retirement going round my head? One hundred per cent. 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."
Broad explained that the coronavirus restrictions placed on all the players during the Test series did not help as he tried to come to terms with being dropped for the first Test in Southampton.
"I have not really told anyone this but I was so down that week of the first Test," he said. "I was really low. I was stuck in that hotel. I couldn't go anywhere.
"I wasn't playing, I was staying in a single room. 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 said his family had played a crucial role in helping him through the period, as had England skipper Ben Stokes.
"Stokesy was brilliant," Broad added. "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.
"In this modern world, sometimes face-to-face comfort can get lost. I have always had a huge amount of respect for Stokes and I will be friends with him for life, but what he did almost added to that."
The 34-year-old, who became the seventh player in history to take 500 Test wickets in the third Test, insists he is a better player now than he was 10 years ago and that age should be no barrier.
"I might have been more exciting when I was 24 or have been more unpredictable so a bit more interesting to watch, but there is no doubt that a captain would rather have me bowling for him now than when I was 24," he said.
"I have seen a lot of numbers over the past week since I took my 500th wicket. 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 the team for a bit and not look past it."
THREE
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Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
PFA Premier League team of 2018-19
Allison (Liverpool)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City)
Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
Paul Pogba (Manchester United)
Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
SUCCESSION%20SEASON%204%20EPISODE%201
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Representing%20UAE%20overseas
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Company%20Profile
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2A)
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company%20profile
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The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet