Veteran England pace bowler Stuart Broad made a funny observation over Marnus Labuschagne’s dismissal on Day 2 of the Edgbaston Test. He added that a couple of policemen did him a favour by getting in the Australian batter’s ‘eyeliner’ as well. However, Broad removed David Warner (9) and Labuschagne (0) early on Day 2 of the second Ashes 2023 Test on Saturday, June 17. While Warner got bowled and became his victim for the 15th time in Tests, dragging a wide ball back onto the stumps, Labuschagne tried to hit an outswinger from Broad and got an edge which was brilliantly caught by Jonny Bairstow behind the wickets as well.
While talking about the key dismissal, Stuart Broad wrote in The Daily Mail: “As for the ball that got Labuschagne, that’s the one I am looking to bowl him by design. A couple of policemen did me a favour when they got in Marnus’ eyeliner and slowed things down a bit, allowing me to focus and with that one I was able to follow through with the plan and that’s always a really nice feeling. I played three out of my four County Championship games for Nottinghamshire this season on really slow pitches, so I wanted to bring the outside edge into things more and that’s why I worked on it with Kevin Shine, our bowling coach, earlier this year.”
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Stuart Broad also shared disappointment over his poor execution with regard to the hat-trick ball to Steve Smith as well. While Smith survived the hat-trick ball, he could not stay long and was trapped lbw by Ben Stokes for 16 as well. He also opined on the challenge of bowling on a batting-friendly surface as well.
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“My was execution was zero. The plan to Steve Smith was a yorker or full toss, and to be honest, he shocked me with how much he moved,” Stuart Broad explained: “You have certain pitches you would roll up, tuck under your arm and take with you wherever you played. This isn’t one of them. It sapped the life out of the ball whenever you hit it. The energy I created during that first hour with two wickets in as many balls came from the stands. So far, one of the slowest pitches I can remember in England has proved difficult to create a mistake from a good length but that can change in a day – that’s the exciting thing about Test match cricket. The conditions keep evolving and changing. We have had two days of sunshine, but there could be some cloud around yet and it could swing a little bit.”
