Broad considered retirement after first Test axe

England quick Stuart Broad has revealed he "one hundred per cent" considered retiring from international cricket last month after he was dropped for the first Test against the West Indies.

Broad was axed for the opening Test of the English summer before shining on his return, taking 16 wickets in the final two matches of the series, including his 500th in Test cricket.

The veteran did not hide his disappointment and frustration when he was sidelined during the first Test and has now revealed that he even considered giving the game away.

"Were there thoughts of retirement going round my head? One hundred per cent," Broad told The Daily Mail, adding being isolated in a bio-secure bubble for the series made the news harder to digest.

"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. 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.

"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 (Ben Stokes) told me I wasn't playing, I felt my body go into shakes. I could barely speak. It was a different situation.

"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, 34, added that the saga of the past month has made him realise how determined he is to continue his England career, with an eye on an Ashes tour in 18 months.

"I believe I can perform in Australia in 18 months' time and my record is suggesting I can," he said.

"I have got a huge, burning desire to go and win in Australia and generally when I have got a burning desire like that, I can drive things forward.

"It's funny, when we were all in lockdown, if you had said to me: 'If your career was to end now how would you feel?' I would have said: "I'm good, I've loved it, I've had some great memories, I could walk away really content and happy, I'm very fortunate to have got where I've got to'.

"Then, when that became reality before the first Test and I get told I'm not playing and theoretically I might never bowl another ball for England, I was angry. It made me think: 'I'm not happy to finish now, I'm not ready to leave the game'.

"Am I happy with my life? Absolutely. Am I happy for my career to finish now? Absolutely not."

Last-week, six-time Ashes veteran Peter Siddle said England are building a bowling attack that could potentially end their decade-long Test drought in Australia, but he forecast that one of Broad or Jimmy Anderson would need to be dropped from the side.

And Siddle, a close friend and former teammate of Broad's, backed the right-armer to be the man picked for what would be a fourth Ashes series in Australia.

"I think it's going to be hard for them (Anderson and Broad) to both play in the same side in Australia," Siddle told cricket.com.au.

"Depending on conditions, I think Broady's probably got the upper hand – not because of age, that's got nothing to do with it – but with his skillset, seaming the ball off the deck rather than swinging it through the air.

"There doesn't tend to be a lot of swing in the air in Australia and I think Jimmy has struggled with that over the years when he's toured here. He has had success at different times, but it tended to be because the overhead conditions suited him, and he was able to get the ball swinging.

"But if there's not as much swing, it'll be harder to play them both."