Stuart Christopher John Broad was born on 24th June 1986 in Nottingham, England. Broad is one of the best fast bowlers England has produced so far. He plays for England in all formats of the game and has also led the national team in the ODI and T20 format. Interestingly, Broad was born 12 weeks prematurely and a doctor called John saved his life, thus his middle name John is derived from the doctor’s name. Following the footsteps of his father Chris Broad who is also the current ICC match referee, Broad initially started as a batsman.

Broad started playing at an early age, he represented the Leicestershire team at the Under-9 level. He played for the Melton Mowbray club Egerton Park from the age of 9 to 19. In the year 1996, he was awarded the Leicestershire Young Cricketers Batsman award in 1996.

Broad completed his education at the Brooke Priory School and Oakham School, a co-educational independent school in Oakham in Rutland, here he was in the same year as England Rugby back-row Tom Croft. Broad finished his school career with three B grades at A-level and was told to choose from a place at Durham University or a contract with Leicestershire County Cricket Club.

Broad played his first game for Leicestershire 2nd XI in 2004 just before his 18th birthday, soon he was rewarded with a full-time contract. Broad continued to impress the selectors and made his first-class debut early in the 2005 season against Durham University Centre of Cricketing Excellence. He finished with figures of 1/40 from 15 overs. Broad took his first 5 wicket haul against championship favorites Surrey and scored his first championship 50 against Derbyshire in the 2006 season. His most noticeable performances were in the Twenty20 Cup, where his economy of 4.50 stood out as the second-best of the season.

Broad made his ODI debut against Pakistan on 30th August 2006. He has played in 121 matches for England out of which he has grabbed 178 wickets with an economy rate of 5.27. He also has a five-wicket haul to his name and his best figure in match is 5/23.

Stuart broad made his Test debut against Sri Lanka on 9th December 2007 at the Sinhalese Sports Club. He has played in 142 matches in his career and has taken 511 wickets at an economy rate of 2.95. His best figures in match is 11/121. He has 18 five-wicket hauls and 3 ten-wicket hauls to his name. He has also contributed with the bat by scoring 3320 runs which include 1 hundred and 13 fifties. Broad was awarded the Man of the Match in the fifth Test of the 2009 Ashes series at the Oval, after he finished with figures of 5/37. He cracked a Test match hat-trick against India. He finished with figures of 6–46 in the test match. Broad also holds the second highest ever Test score made by a number 9—he made 169, his only century in first-class cricket, against Pakistan in August 2010

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Broad made his T20 debut against Pakistan at the County ground on 28th August 2006. He has played 56 matches so far in his career and has scalped 65 wickets. His figure in a match is 4/24 and he has an economy rate of 7.63 in the T20 format. He last played in a T20 match against Netherlands on 31st March 2014.

There is no doubt about the fact that Stuart broad was, is and will remain of the best English bowlers to have played the game. He has led the English pace bowling attack alongside his Teammate James Anderson for the longest time and still has a lot more to contribute to English Cricket.