Pick of the English bowlers until Tea, Day 2, of the ongoing fifth Ashes 2023 Test match against Australia, veteran pacer Stuart Broad indirectly dismissed Marnus Labuschagne (9) in the morning session today. Broad, whose antics are well-known among cricketing fans, took refuge in one of them to assist fellow pacer Mark Wood in picking his first wicket of the match.
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Broad, who himself hadn’t dismissed any batter in the match at that point in time, played a strange mind game of-sorts with Labuschagne right before his dismissal. Although the Australian batter expressed amusement at whatever Broad did with the bails before a wicket-taking delivery, he was left stunned perhaps by both Broad and former England captain Joe Root‘s stunning one-handed catch at first slip.
Here’s How Stuart Broad Indirectly Dismissed Marnus Labuschagne On Day 2
It all happened before the penultimate delivery of the 18th over of the day when Broad walked towards the stumps at a time when Wood was returning back to his run-up. In what initially seemed to be an informal conversation with the batter, it turned out that Broad had flipped the bails.
Labuschagne, who didn’t pay much heed to Broad’s offhand ploy, was seen smiling at the same at first. Call it a co-incidence of the highest level, less did he know that Broad’s gesture would have forced him into walking back to the pavilion. A classic case of a happenstance, Broad swapping the bails had it in it for Labuschagne to be dismissed especially taking into consideration the manner in which Root caught the ball.
While the right-handed batter was still coming to terms with whatever happened with him, Broad had the audacity to run from his fielding position and make a point in front of non-striker Usman Khawaja (47) as part of a wicket-taking celebration.
Marnus Labuschagne Scores At Second-Lowest Strike Rate On Day 2
Labuschagne, 29, exercised immense amount of patience during the course of his 82-ball stay in the middle in this innings. Not even looking to rotate the strike, it was quite an unconventional style of batting by his personal standards.
Batting for the 75th time in Test cricket, it was the 70th instance of him scoring a run in the format. Labuschagne’s strike rate of 10.97 means that it is his second-lowest across all these innings. For the uninitiated, his lowest strike rate remains 7.14 when he scored 1 (14) against the same opposition at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during Ashes 2021/22.
