Cricket hero Stuart Broad has told how his love for Saturdays singer Mollie King – and their year-old daughter Annabella – has helped him to accept quitting the game he loves.
The 37-year-old England star, one of the greatest ever Test bowlers, announced he was giving up the sport in July — and in his new autobiography he says it was a 50-50 decision to go ahead with retirement, right down to the wire.
The couple, dubbed the Posh and Becks of cricket, had dated on and off since 2012, but with Stuart travelling the world for his sport and Mollie busy as one fifth of a mega girlband, romance took a back seat.
Stuart and Mollie had first got together after he revealed he fancied her at a sponsored event. The couple started dating in London in 2012 and spent New Year’s Eve together, but later split.
In his book Broadly Speaking, he said: “Mollie went to film in Los Angeles, and despite really enjoying each other’s company, being at opposite ends of the world didn’t help us stay in touch."
Five years later, when the couple got back together in 2018, it was a make-or-break trip to Paris which made them realise they could make things work a second time around.
He wrote: "I didn’t want the same curse of five years previously striking once more, and with me living in Nottingham, Mollie in London, it could have shaped up as being another ‘I go away, she goes away’ situation."