Ashes 2023: Stuart Broad messes with Marnus Labuschagne’s stumps and his mind

Stuart Broad messed with the mind of Marnus Labuschagne in the Ashes overnight - and much to the Englishman’s delight his dirty trick brought an immediate wicket.

Stuart Broad has taken a subtle dig at Marnus Labuschagne after the Australian No. 3 appeared to complain about the dark after being dismissed on day two of the fifth Test.

Labuschagne appeared to have words to umpire Joel Wilson after he edged Mark Wood to be brilliantly caught by Joe Root for nine under heavy cloud cover at The Oval.

Broad said that while he didn’t know for sure, he thought Labuschagne had believed it too dark to be facing a bowler of Wood’s pace.

“I think it was the dark. I think he was bit unhappy with the light conditions. I don’t know that because I was obviously down the other end but I think the word got back to us,” Broad said.

But the star England quick and eternal pantomime villain then suggested that Labuschagne was always looking for someone to blame when dismissed.

“But I think he strikes me as a sort of batter that is never out. And has to find a reason why he’s out, so the light took a pounding,” Broad said.

Stuart Broad's mind games worked, Marnus Labuschagne dismissed very next ball. Stunning 👀#Ashes#Ashes23pic.twitter.com/XmIJOsuvWj

— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) July 28, 2023

"I've heard it's an Aussie change-of-luck thing..." 💬

Stuart Broad on the switching of Marnus Labuschagne's bails 😅#Ashespic.twitter.com/pYyudkRGsP

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) July 28, 2023

Broad had played a quirky role in Labuschagne’s removal, having switched the bails at the striker’s end before the ball was bowled.

The veteran paceman explained that he had taken a leaf out of Australia’s book with the ploy.

“I’ve heard it’s an Aussies change of luck thing. And I’ve seen Nathan Lyon do it and I feel like I’ve seen Justin Langer do it,” Broad said.

“I could have just made that up. But we had a few play and misses in the morning session and we needed to make a breakthrough. And I thought I’ll have a little change the bails. Marnus is someone who would notice everything, so he took notice of it.

“It just worked out pretty magically that he nicked the next ball and Rooty took a great catch. So yeah, I randomly went and celebrated with (nonstriker) Uzzy (Khawaja) for some reason.

“It was a change of bail to change the luck and it seemed to work for that ball.”