It was during the second Test against Pakistan three years ago when England pacer Stuart Broad had begun signaling towards the dressing room for an inhaler after suffering some sort of a discomfort in his opening spell of the first innings at the Rose Bowl.
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However, for some reason, he did not receive immediate assistance from the support staff. A few moments later, one of the members arrived on the field with a bottle of water, only to be sent back away. While he was eventually handed the inhaler, the right-arm pacer would be seen bending in pain post puffing it. Fortunately, his condition did not worsen and he remained on the field.
Despite suffering from this physical condition, Broad had managed to play each one of England’s home Tests since 2012 until the first match of the English summer in 2020.
Does Stuart Broad Have Asthma?
YES. Stuart Broad has been battling with Asthma since his birth. During an interaction with the PA News Agency in 2021, Broad had revealed that he was aware of his condition around the age of six, but became fully aware of the disease at the age of 12-13.
In fact, the pacer would be so ashamed of Asthma that he would hide his ailment from his friends during his teenage years. Narrating an incident from his school days, he would exclaim how as a 14-year-old he once had an Asthma attack. However, he was so ashamed of having suffered the attack that he would eventually lie to his friends, claiming to be off from school due to some sickness.
“I had an asthma attack when I was 14 and had to have two weeks off school and I just didn’t tell my friends why I was off school. I just said I wasn’t very well which now seems mad.”
It were his ever-supportive parents, especially his mother, who had made sure that the disease did not affect his sporting or other physical activities. Proper exercising, awareness of the conditions and the environment around him, and proper breathing techniques have made sure that Broad has not really faced tough challenges with respect to elongating his cricketing career.
When Did Stuart Broad Inform England Team About Suffering From Asthma?
Broad had kept the fact that he suffers from Asthma a secret before his England teammates until the pre-Ashes training camp in 2015. As a matter of fact, the information would only be disclosed after the players were supposed to reveal a secret each which nobody in the camp knew.
Writing for The Daily Mail in 2020, the veteran pacer had revealed how he had shocked his teammates when he revealed to them that one of his lungs never truly developed as he was born three months premature.
“I explained that because I was so tiny when I was born, basically at death’s door, one of my lungs never fully developed. That’s why I’m asthmatic and carry an inhaler. It has never affected me as a sportsman, but the idea that I’ve played my entire career with half a lung less than everybody else is quite amazing when you think about it.”
Broad will bid adieu to international cricket after playing the ongoing fifth Ashes 2023 Test at The Oval. Realizing that he is among the five bowlers to have scalped more than 600 Test wickets in spite of suffering from a chronic lung disease, perhaps further increases his stature as a fast bowler and a professional cricketer.
