Stuart Broad admits contemplating retirement after West Indies snub

The England seamer was omitted for the first Test of the series at The Ageas Bowl and concedes he considered his international future

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England seamer Stuart Broad says he considered calling time on his international career after being left out of the team for the first Test against West Indies.

James Anderson, Mark Wood and Jofra Archer were preferred to the 34-year-old for the opening match of the summer, which Jason Holder's side won by four wickets at The Ageas Bowl.

Broad returned to the team to help England turn the three-match series around with back-to-back wins at Emirates Old Trafford.

He took 16 wickets to finish as the leading bowler in the series, a haul which helped him reach the milestone of 500 Test scalps.

That return was preceded by a period of reflection for Broad, who admits that after being ditched for the opening match he contemplated ending his England career.

"Were there thoughts of retirement going round my head? 100 per cent," he told the Mail on Sunday. "Because I was so down. I was expecting to play, which is always a bit of a dangerous thing in sport but I felt I deserved to play. 

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"If I had had a different conversation with the coach the day after and the coach had said you are not in our plans... well if you are not in England’s plans when you are bowling as well as you can, you are pretty screwed.

"It’s not like I can move from Man United to LA Galaxy. If you are not playing for England, you are not playing for England. 

"You always catastrophise when you are in a hotel room on your own. You are sat alone in a room and it feels worse than it is. 

"The cold facts were I had been left out of one game and I would probably play the next but my mind wasn’t thinking like that."

"I can’t think of many times I have been down like that. When I have been dropped before, I can go 'Fair enough, good decision, can’t really argue with that'. 

"This time, when Stokesy told me I wasn’t playing, I felt my body go into shakes. I could barely speak. It was a different situation."

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