Stuart Broad's incredible mind games to help dismiss Labuschagne in Oval Test

Australia have often answered England's flamboyant and aggressive batting approach with attrition during the ongoing Ashes and an example of that could be seen during Day 2 of the fifth Test at the Oval. While England's innings on Day 1 featured a number of partnerships that had strike rates well over 100, Australia seemed more keen on wearing the host bowlers out and blunting the attack than scoring runs in the first half of the second day.

Broad said that he wanted to try something to change England's fortunes

While Root deservedly got the plaudits for the wicket, replays later showed that veteran fast bowler Stuart Broad's antics may have also played a small role. Replays showed that Broad had walked up to Labuschagne just as the batter was taking his mark for that delivery and interchanged the two bails on the stumps. Labuschagne then seemed to look at Khawaja and smile before facing up to the delivery that ended his innings.

Broad has been known to be a staunch advocate of the ‘Spirit of Cricket’, not refraining from voicing his opinion on Twitter when a team commits an act that sparks a debate on the topic. He notably drew the ire of Indian fans for his views on Deepti Sharma Mankading Charlie Dean in a tense women's ODI match between India and England in September 2022 and could be seen mocking Australia for the way in which they dismissed Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test, which was derided by the home team and supporters as against the spirit of the game.