Stuart Broad has admitted he deliberately set about annoying the Australians after being left furious with Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal.
Broad came to the crease on the final day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s following the controversial incident involving Bairstow. The England wicket-keeper was stumped by Alex Carey after leaving his crease to talk to Ben Stokes, believing the ball to be dead at the end of the over.
Australia captain Pat Cummins refused to withdraw his appeal and the visitors went on to win the game by 43 runs to go 2-0 up in the series. Australia were booed by the Lord’s crowd, abused by some MCC members in the pavilion and have been heavily criticised by ex-players and pundits, who have sparked a debate about the spirit of cricket, which has even been commented on by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Broad was in the thick of things out in the middle in the immediate aftermath. He was caught on the stump microphone telling Carey "you'll forever be remembered for that" and telling Cummins it was “literally, that's the worst thing I've ever seen in cricket, that."
He has now explained what happened in a column for the Daily Mail, writing: “The red mist came over me, too, when I arrived at the crease to replace Jonny, and some of what I said was picked up on the stump mics – which naively, given my experience, I didn’t really think about.
“I was angered by Australia’s decision, particularly having heard their lines about creating a new legacy as a team, and how they have changed since the tour of South Africa in 2018.”
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He added: “It may have been a bit silly, but I also shouted ‘in’ every time I crossed the line. It annoyed the Australians for maybe half-an-hour, although after two-and-a-half hours, they were probably a bit bored of it.”
Broad explained that he was not annoyed by Carey’s initial actions in throwing down the stumps after Bairstow ducked a Cameron Green bouncer. Instead it was Cummins’ decision not to withdraw the appeal and call back Bairstow which irked him.
The England bowler described Cummins as a “really great guy” but suggested he would live to regret his decision. The series moves on to Headingley on Thursday for the third Test, with England needing to win the remaining three matches to win the Ashes.
No team has come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in the Ashes since Don Bradman’s Australian side did so in the 1936/37 series. Nevertheless, Broad remains confident that, galvanised by what they see as injustice, Stokes’ side can pull off the miraculous.
He wrote: “Yes, we are 2-0 down after two pretty theatrical Test matches that have lived up to what Ashes cricket is about but when I look at our changing room, most of us have got a bit more ‘performance’ in us, and we will bring that to Leeds.”
