Watch: Stuart Broad's 'Mind Game' to Dismiss Marnus Labuschagne Triggers 'Spirit of Cricket' Debate

On the second day of the fifth Ashes Test, England bowler Stuart Broad employed a bizzare tactic to play with the mind of Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne.

In a bid to change the luck of his team that was hunting for wickets, Broad altered the positions of two bails resting the stumps while Labuschangne was getting ready to face a delivery from Mark Wood.

Broad’s mind game surprisingly worked as Labuschagne got dismissed in the very next ball. The Australian edged a length delivery that found the clasp of Joe Root in the slips.

Labuschagne returned to the pavilion for just 9 runs, for which he consumed as many as 82 balls.

A clip of Broad’s antics was shared on the official Twitter page of England Cricket.

When Broad was changing the positions of the bails, Labuschagne took it very lightly. He exchanged a sarcastic smile with Usman Khawaja, who was standing at the non-striker’s end.

After wicket though, Broad was seen going straight to Khwaja and patting the Australian’s back before joining his teammates for a celebration.

“Name: Stuart Broad, Occupation: Mind Games Extraordinaire,” the tweet read.

Broad’s action, however, did not go down well with a section of fans, who thought the English pacer’s change-of-the-bail thing might go against the “Spirit of Cricket.”

Broad has always been vocal about upholding the spirit.

When India’s Deepti Sharma ran out England’s Charlie Dean in a 2022 women’s ODI game for backing up too far, Broad expressed his displeasure.

Broad also voiced his opinion against Australia’s way of dismissing English batter Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test.

Referring to that event, a fan took a sarcastic dig at Broad, asking, “What happened to the spirit of cricket here? You were cribbing about it for the past two tests?”

https://twitter.com/ helloworldrf/status/1684942371333586944

There was a fan, who joked that nothing is wrong with Broad’s action as “nothing written in the law book that prohibits this.”

A user was quick to recall legendary Aussie spinner Shane Warne also indulged in mind games during his playing days and “got a lot of wickets.”

Broad addressed the topic during the media interaction after the second day of the fifth Ashes Test got wrapped up.

I’ve heard it’s like an Aussie change-of-luck thing. I’ve seen Nathan Lyon and Justin Langer do it. We had a few play-and-misses in the morning session and we needed to make a breakthrough,” Broad said.

He also highlighted the brief celebration with Khawaja, saying, “I think Uzzy said something to Marnus and then it just worked out pretty magically. I randomly went and celebrated with Uzzy.”

A few overs after Labuschagne’s wicket, Khawaja was sent packing by Broad. The opener faced 147 balls, en route to his 47-run innings.

The upcoming Australian batters failed to survive long, with Steve Smith being the only exception. The star batter played a gritty 71-run knock in 123 deliveries.

At stumps, Australia got bundled out for 295 runs.