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'Heard It's An..'- Stuart Broad Reveals Why He Interchanged Marnus Labuschagne's Bails

image-lkni1cgxStuart Broad switched the bails of Labuschagne | Source: Twitter 

Australia has countered every question posed by England in the ongoing Ashes Test series. Their bold and fearless approach to the game has been a highlight. However, on the second day of the final test match, Australia appeared more focused on wearing down the opposition bowlers rather than aggressively scoring runs.  

Marnus Labuschagne took charge, grinding out a hard-fought nine runs after facing 82 deliveries. He put up a 42-run partnership with Usman Khawaja that stretched over 156 deliveries. 

Labuschagne's innings came to an end in the 43rd over when he edged a delivery from Mark Wood, only for Joe Root to execute a truly astonishing catch at first slip.  

While credit goes to Mark Wood and Joe Root for Labuschagne's wicket, it was pacer Stuart Broad's clever tactics and mind games that also played a big role. 

Just before Labuschagne was preparing to take his mark, Broad walked up to him and subtly interchanged the bails on the stumps. Labuschagne shared a smile with Khawaja before facing the delivery that eventually led to his dismissal.  


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This incident raised concerns among fans, prompting them to wonder if it adheres to the spirit of the game. Meanwhile, the England pacer told reporters that he felt it was something that the Australians always tried when they needed a change of luck.


Here’s what Stuart Broad said

"I’ve heard it’s an Aussie change of luck thing. I’ve seen Nathan Lyon do it. We had a few plays and misses in the morning session and we needed to make a breakthrough and I thought: ‘I’ll have a little change of the bails."

"Marnus is someone who would notice everything. I think Uzzy said something to him and then it just worked out pretty magically that he nicked the next ball and Rooty took a great catch. I randomly went and celebrated with Uzzy for some reason. It was nice, change of bails, change of luck and it seemed to work for that ball."

Australia were bowled out for 295 runs in reply to England’s first innings total of 283 runs, thus taking a 12 runs lead. Steve Smith was their top run-getter, having scored 71 runs from 123 balls.