The 2023 Ashes series was full of memorable moments, but none more memorable than Jonny Bairstow’s stumping incident on Day Five. Now, Stuart Broad has broken his silence on the incident, revealing what went down at the crease following Bairstow’s dismissal. Speaking on the Up Front podcast, Broad said that he was overcome with frustration in the moment and went on to rip into Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins.
“As I’m walking out to bat at Lord’s and there’s boos going at the Aussies, the captain Pat Cummins is coming on to bowl so he’s walking towards me at the end of his mark,” Stuart Broad recalled. “And I just looked at him and said, ‘You’re an absolute disgrace’. He said, ‘Oh yeah, you’re hardly an upkeep of the spirit of cricket’.”
Cummins’ retort at Broad was in reference to when the Englishman famously didn’t walk in the 2013 Ashes when he clearly edged the ball but was given not out by the umpire. Stuart Broad also recalled and regretted his mannerisms after he took to the crease, and exaggerated the incident by putting his bat in the crease for a prolonged period of time, so as to take a dig at the Aussies.
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“Then the next 10 minutes became me being very facetious and shouting in every time, which I had huge regrets about that night,” he said. “I was hugely embarrassed about it but I had no real control over what I was doing.”
But Broad’s antics upon being angered did not stop there, as the pacer went on to join the Barmy Army’s jeers towards Cummins, as Ben Stokes took to the field to punish the Aussie with a blistering 155 runs in the final inning.
“You’re an absolute disgrace…” 🤯
On this week’s #UpFront, Stuart Broad reveals what he said to Australia captain Pat Cummings in the aftermath of THAT Jonny Bairstow dismissal 🏏
Listen and watch now 💥
w/ @sjopinion10 | @StuartBroad8 pic.twitter.com/ppMXqbIzdH
— Up Front with Simon Jordan (@UpFrontPod) October 26, 2023
Stuart Broad recalled, “Pat went over to long on, like way away from me, and the crowd are booing him. And I’m shouting him from 60 metres, ‘Pat! Pat! All these boos, they’re for you mate. All of them, they’re for you’. To the extent where some of them were going, ‘Just calm down a little bit’. Started off as a red mist and then I tweaked it into an advantage of we’ve got them by the balls here a little bit, how long can I make this carry on?”
But Broad also made mention about how the entire incident helped galvanize the England team, who came back from their 2-match deficit to tie the series 2-2.
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“It made the series to be honest,” the fast bowler said. “We galvanised around it. He (Bairstow) didn’t do it again in the series and realised maybe I was a bit dozy at times just wandering out (of my crease).”
Best vision of the Carey/Bairstow stumping.
Stokes hadn’t even returned to his crease at the non-striker’s end yet.
Lunacy from Bairstow. #Ashes pic.twitter.com/qZVnw27P4p
— James Mottershead (@mottersjames) July 5, 2023
Broad’s revelation that he was “hugely embarrassed” by his behavior after Bairstow’s dismissal is a refreshing sign of self-awareness. It is also a reminder that even the greatest players can make mistakes. However, Broad’s claim that the entire incident “made the series” is also significant. It suggests that the England team were able to use the controversy to their advantage and galvanize their performance.
