Broad made his decision “at about 8.30pm” on Friday evening, and informed his long-standing team-mates James Anderson and Joe Root of his decision before play on Saturday morning, and was understood to be fighting back tears in the process.
“It’s been a wonderful ride, a huge privilege to wear the Nottinghamshire and the England badge as much as I have,” Broad told Sky Sports at the close of the third day’s play. “And, I’m loving cricket as much as I ever have. It’s been such a wonderful series to be a part of, and I’ve always wanted to finish at the top. And this series just feels like it’s been one of the most enjoyable and entertaining I’ve been a part of.”
He has scope to add to his current tally of 602 wickets when England embark on the fourth innings at The Oval, where they will aim to square the Ashes series at 2-2, and could yet add to his runs tally of 3656, after he and Anderson finished the third day unbeaten in their tenth-wicket stand.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, a few weeks,” he added. “England vs Australia has always been the pinnacle for me – I have loved the battles with Australia that have come my way and the team’s way, I have a love affair with Ashes and I think I wanted my last bat and bowl to be in Ashes cricket.
“I told Stokesy last night and told the changing room this morning and to be honest, it just felt the right time and I didn’t want friends or Nottinghamshire team-mates to see things that might come out, so I prefer to just say it now, and just give it a good crack for the last Australia innings.
“I have thought a lot about it, and even up till 8pm last night, I was 50/50. But when I went up to Stokesy’s room and told him, I have felt really happy, since and content with everything I have achieved.”
Broad made his England debut in a T20I against Pakistan in Cardiff in August 2006, two months after his 20th birthday, and went on to play the first of his 167 Tests the following winter, against Sri Lanka at the SSC in Colombo.
Despite being the fifth bowler used by Andrew Strauss in Australia’s first innings, Broad trapped Shane Watson lbw with the sixth ball of his spell, then picked off Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin in quick succession. Australia’s innings collapsed from 73 for 0 to 133 for 8 by the time his spell was done, and by the time England sealed victory on the final afternoon, his place in Ashes folklore was secure.
Remarkably, Broad would go on to deliver the coup de grace in each of England’s next two home Ashes victories – at Chester-le-Street in 2013, he returned the single-spell figures of 9.3-1-22-6 to put the series out of Australia’s reach, before his defining performance two years later at Trent Bridge, where he returned the incredible first-day figures of 8 for 15 in 9.3 overs to rout Australia for 60.
In between those campaigns, his combative nature was perhaps best exemplified by his performance at Brisbane on the opening day of the 2013-14 Ashes. He went into that series as Public Enemy No.1, with the local Courier-Mail newspaper boycotting the use of his name in protest at his decision to stand his ground for a catch in England’s tense victory at Trent Bridge in the previous summer’s series.
Broad rose above the noise, and the abuse from the crowd, to return a first-day five-for – and even walked into his press conference with a copy of the paper under his arm. As it turned out, Mitchell Johnson would outdo his efforts in the same match to set up a 5-0 Ashes rout, but Broad’s character had come through a fierce test of resolve.
More to follow
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket