Stuart Broad stuns fans with superstitious trick to help finish off Australia in fifth Ashes Test – and it works for the second time in a row
- Broad claimed wicket after unusual act
- Used same trick against Marnus Labuschagne
- Bowler enjoyed fairytale finish to career
England cricket legend Stuart Broad had a fairytale finish to his career as the hosts secured a memorable win in the fifth Test – but a bizarre move by the veteran has stunned Aussie cricket fans.
Broad had an electrifying final spell as he bowled England to victory in the last Ashes clash against Australia at The Oval, with the series drawn at 2-2.
However, the England pace bowler had a frustrating start to the day, finding no joy in his first 18 overs despite repeatedly beating the outside edge.
Australia needed 55 to reach their target of 384 with eight wickets down and English minds were drifting back to the first Test at Edgbaston when their team couldn’t get the final two scalps in time to stop the tourists recording a miracle win.
In a superstitious act, Broad changed the bails over at the non-striker’s end before the last ball of his 19th over – and he found success immediately.
Stuart Broad stunned fans with the superstitious act of swapping the bails at the non-striker’s end just before the last ball of his 19th over in the fifth Ashes Test (pictured)
Broad had used the same superstitious act to unnerve Marnus Labuschagne in the first innings – and it worked a treat during Australia’s second dig, too
Todd Murphy nicked the next delivery to Jonny Bairstow and English fans erupted.
Cricket journalist Vithushan Ehantharajah tweeted: ‘You all saw Broad swap the bails at the nonstriker’s end before that delivery, right? Obscene.’
Broad had deployed the same superstitious act to get in the head of Marnus Labuschagne in Australia’s first innings.
He approached the stumps as Labuschagne failed to run a single and swapped the bails over in an effort to unnerve the Australian.
Labuschagne initially found Broad’s antics comical as he smiled back down the wicket at his batting partner, but wasn’t grinning as he edged behind on the next delivery.
After dismissing Murphy, Broad went on to end Alex Carey with his final delivery and take his career tally of wickets to 604 — fourth on the all-time list.
Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting has blasted the choice of ball handed to England on the morning of day five at the Oval, with the former Australian captain calling for an investigation into how the decision was reached.
Umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena agreed to change the ball after the first delivery of the 37th over in south London on Monday, deeming that it had gone out of shape after Mark Wood struck Usman Khawaja on the helmet with a bouncer.
However, the replacement ball appeared to be significantly harder and newer than the ball England had used previously, and the hosts took advantage.
The English paceman is pictured swapping the bails next to Marnus Labuschagne in Australia’s first innings at The Oval
After dismissing Murphy, Broad went on to finish Alex Carey with his final delivery and take his career tally of wickets to 604
Ben Stokes’s side picked up the wickets of Khawaja, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession, giving them the chance of a fightback on the final day of the series.
A furious Ponting took to the airwaves on Sky Sports to suggest the umpires had either been ‘blasé’ in their approach to the ball change, or had not been given an appropriate replacement by fourth umpire David Millns.
‘The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball that was chosen to replace the one [that had gone out of shape],’ Ponting said.
‘There’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way are they comparable.
‘At the end of the day, if you are going to change the ball, you want to make sure that you get it right, so [you make it] as close as you possibly can to the one that you’re changing it from.
Ricky Ponting has blasted the choice of ball handed to England on Day 5 at the Oval
‘Now if you have a look in that box, there weren’t too many older-condition balls in there. There were some older ones that were picked up, the umpires looked at that and threw them back.
‘I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times before can get that so wrong.
‘That is a huge moment in this game, potentially a huge moment in the Test match, and something I think actually has to be investigated: whether there was the right condition of balls in the box, or the umpires have just, blasé, picked one out of there that they think will be okay to use.’
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