Stuart Broad says he has more time to focus on planning his wedding to Mollie King now that he has retired from cricket.
The former England pacer, 37, announced his retirement during the 2023 Ashes back in July and confirmed he would leaving his 15-year career behind after the conclusion of the series.
His focus now is former The Saturdays singer-turned-BBC One Radio host King, 36, whom he was first linked to in 2018 popped the question to on New Year’s Eve 2021, and their one-year-old daughter Annabella.
Discussing his retirement on Thursday’s Good Morning Britain, Broad told Shephard and co-host Susannah Reid: “I’ve got a bit more time on my hands to get married now.”
Host Ben Shephard asked if King was dragging him into the wedding preparations, to which Broad replied: “Exactly.”
He then went on to speak about his pride at being a dad, saying: “Annabella’s been an absolute dream. 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. Annabella won’t be small for a long period of time and these first four or five years are so important.”
On his final day of playing cricket, Broad hit a six from the last ball he faced and then took a wicket with the final ball he bowled to win the Test for the home side.
He reflected: “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.”
The athlete also said his “emotions nearly got the better” of him.
“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.”
King recently told The Standard that they are preparing to host their first Christmas together for their families.
“We’re getting the family together,” she explained. “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 firsttime so it’s going to be pretty busy I think.”
If one thing’s for certain, it’s that King won’t be on turkey duty on the day.
“100 per cent Stuart,” she laughs. “I think if it was me it would be more like turkey dinosaurs! Stuart is a great cook so I will leave that to him.”
