Stuart Broad lifts lid on 'magic' Ashes tactic of flipping bails the delivery before Marnus Labuschagne's dismissal

The 2023 Ashes will be as memorable for the incredible quality of cricket on display as it will be for the subplots and stories that have surrounded it. The beginning of the second day’s play at the Oval might have seen lines blur between the two, however, as video has come to light of another hilarious moment that might well have had impact on the direction the match is flowing in, and Stuart Broad took credit for using an Australian tactic against them to produce the result.

With Marnus Labuschagne having already batted for a gritty and long-winded 81 balls, scoring only 9 runs, England were looking for a path to dislodge the batter before he could cause serious damage to the scoreline. Stuart Broad, often the chief of trying to rile up the Aussies and get into their heads, took matters into his own hands as a small and innocuous action on one ball saw the very next ball bear fruit.

With Mark Wood preparing to bowl, Broad walked over the batter’s end stumps and swapped the bails around — a small action which should have no influence in the game, except for Broad trying to confuse and distract Labuschagne at the crease. Broad’s action was followed by a smile shared between the Australian number three and his partner, Usman Khawaja, an acknowledgement of the hilarious back-and-forth between the two teams throughout the series.

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Nonetheless, even a harmless moment such as that gave England results, showing that Broad’s mind games potentially worked wonders. The very next ball, Labuschagne would edge a good-length ball from Wood, and a brilliant catch by Joe Root at first slip would force him to walk back to the dressing room.

The pantomime may not have had any real effect, but Broad certainly felt that he had gotten into Labuschagne’s head. Speaking to reporters about the incident after the match, Broad said “I’ve heard it’s an Aussie change of luck thing. I’ve seen Nathan Lyon do it. We had a few play 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.’”

“It just worked out pretty magically that he nicked the next ball and Rooty took a great catch,” continued Broad. The pace bowler would also then go on to rub it in the face of Khawaja at the other end, swapping words with him and giving him a pat on the back. Broad revealed what the conversation had been about out in the middle.

“I randomly went and celebrated with Uzzy for some reason. He said: ‘If you touch my bails I’m flipping them straight back.’ So he gave me an immediate warning,” said Broad, recounting the hilarious moment in the game.

Khawaja has been victim to some England mind-games himself this series, falling prey to the famous ‘Brumbrella’ field in the first Test at Edgbaston, where Ollie Robinson bowled him through the gate following the implementation of a strange field setting.

Aussie luck or not, the moment would be followed by great success for England for the rest of the day, as they took 5 wickets in the afternoon sessions nd bowled out Australia by the end of day 2. The hosts will be satisfied coming in to bat and trailing by only 12 runs, giving them a chance to set a large target for their visitors and try claiming a 2-2 series draw in the process.