Stuart Broad baits Australian cricket fans with tweet referencing infamous 2013 Ashes incident

Stuart Broad didn’t miss the chance to bait Australian fans after Tim Paine’s side failed to review an edge from Kane Williamson. The English paceman’s tweet referencing an infamous edge during the 2013 Ashes reignited debate about whether he was out.

Stuart Broad’s full text exchange with an Australian cricket fan.

Time to start printing those ‘Kane Williamson is a s*** bloke’ T-shirts?

Hardly.

But Stuart Broad — who can boast a fashion line of sorts in his honour with that tag line – couldn’t resist picking at long-healed scabs while watching Australia’s tussle with New Zealand from a distance.

Australia failed to review a caught behind shout against the Kiwi captain when one of the world’s top three batsmen was on just 13.

Did he not walk?! Wow

— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) December 13, 2019

Only Steve Smith was interested, and would have been proved right to review with Williamson getting the slightest of feather touches to the ball.

‘Did he not walk?! Wow,’ tweeted the England swing bowler in response to an image of the tiny spike on snicko.

Broad became public enemy no. 1 in Australia during the 2013 Ashes, when he thick edged a delivery from Ashton Agar at Trent Bridge to Michael Clarke’s hands, via Brad Haddin’s gloves.

Umpire Aleem Dar (standing at Perth for a record 129th time) inexplicably didn’t raise a finger and Broad refused to walk.

Broad has been booed and more at every ground he’s visited in Australia since. Williamson, it is fair to say, is unlikely to draw similar treatment.

Stuart Broad’s full text exchange with an Australian cricket fan.

THE FURNACE

HOW has it been at Perth Stadium this week?

So hot, in fact, that one journalist preparing to have his bag searched at the entry gates burnt his fingers putting them on the metal zip in his backpack which had been exposed to the 40 degree plus heat for no more than 20 minutes.

I love the contrast between the Aussies and us. Smith has a bat sticker of his multi million dollar mattress investment. Jeety has a bat sticker of the accounting firm he works for in the winter 😂

— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) December 13, 2019

KIWI ALL-ROUNDERS AUSSIE COMPARISON

New Zealand hate being described as the poor cousins to Australian cricket, but even they concede that sometimes it’s just true.

Blackcaps World Cup hero Jimmy Neesham observed the difference between the sponsorship sticker on Steve Smith’s bat and the one being showcased on the back of New Zealand opener Jeet Raval’s more humble willow.

“I love the contrast between the Aussies and us. Smith has a bat sticker of his multi million dollar mattress investment. Jeety has a bat sticker of the accounting firm he works for in the winter,” tweeted Neesham.

Australian captain Tim Paine offered a cheeky sledge of Smith earlier in the summer in Brisbane when asked about his star batsman’s notorious battles with insomnia.

“It’s not a great endorsement for his Koala Mattress company,” Paine said.

The quip was not missed by Smith who reports he is in fact sleeping a lot better these days thanks to the aid of a rain app he plays in his hotel room on his mobile phone.

Smith said he had plenty of good rest for his stunning superman catch in Perth which will be replayed for as long as he plays the game.

“I had a couple of good nights at home sleeping on my Koala mattress, which was really nice,” Smith offered as a pointed retort to his skipper.

Sleeping well might be easier knowing how well Smith has done out of his smart investment in Koala. Four years ago he reportedly invested $100,000 for a 10 per cent stake in the then start-up – which is now valued at about $150 million, equating to shares worth more than $12 million.

Josh Halzewoods rips through Jeet Raval during New Zealand’s first innings in Perth.

TROTTING OFF

One of the consequences of the shift in venue and timeslot of the Perth Test is that the ancient tradition of players walking across the road after stumps at the WACA to the Gloucester Park trotting track has ended.

The likes of Mark Waugh was a Gloucester Park regular and even owned a pacer called Four More which raced in Perth.

Former New Zealand captain and keen punter Ken Rutherford even worked out it was a 90 metre walk from the back of the visitors’ dressing room at the WACA to the front gate of Gloucester Park.

But Optus Stadium is a few extra kilometres away from the trots and the late finish means unless you are harness racing tragic and want to watch the last few races its hardly worth the effort.

Originally published as Stuart Broad baits Australian cricket fans with tweet referencing infamous 2013 Ashes incident