It has not been a good past 24 hours for veteran England fast bowler Stuart Broad. After toiling hard in the middle on Day 2 of the second Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Broad got a call early in the morning about the pub that he co-owns has been destroyed after catching fire.
“I couldn’t believe the news this morning. Not sure I still can. Our wonderful Pub @tapandruncw caught fire in the early hours. Thankfully no one was hurt, the Nottinghamshire Fire Service were incredible in their efforts & thank you to the villagers for the wonderful support & sorry for the disruption,” Broad wrote in a tweet.
“Thinking of our awesome staff today, every single person there has created a special pub for the community. It hurts right now but we will come out the other side,” the 35-year-old added.
The Tap & Run country pub is an award-winning pub in Upper Broughton. The pub caught fire around 3:20 AM and it spread to both the floors of the building. Firefighters arrived with eight engines to the incident but could not contain the fire. An official statement on the pub’s website mentioned that it will not be running "for the foreseeable future".
According to the neighbours, the fire was so intense that they were told to stay indoors and keep their windows and doors locked.
"He's just happy that no one's hurt. It's obviously gutting because it's such a huge part of his and Harry's lives," Broad’s new-ball partner James Anderson told Test Match Special.
Despite his pub catching fire, Broad bowled on Day 2 and got the wickets of bowling all-rounders Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee with the old ball. He bowled a total of 26 overs in the first innings including four maidens. He conceded 107 runs at an economy rate of 4.10 runs per over.
