'A Couple Of Policemen Did Me A Favour...': Stuart Broad Shares Insight Into The Wicket Of Marnus Labuschagne In Ashes Opener

Stuart Broad got rid of David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne off successive deliveries in Australia's first innings of the Ashes 2023 opener.

Stuart Broad of England celebrates with Harry Brook after taking the wicket of Marnus Labuschange of Australia during Day Two of the LV= Insurance Ashes 1st Test match between England and Australia at Edgbaston on June 17, 2023 in Birmingham, England

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Senior England speedster Stuart Broad gave an interesting insight into how he got rid of Australia's Marnus Labuschagne on Day 2 of the Ashes 2023 opener at the Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday (June 17). He revealed how a couple of policemen played a part in him getting rid of the Australian run-machine. Notably, Broad removed both David Warner (9) and Labuschagne (0) early on Day 2 of the Ashes opener with Warner falling to the England pacer for the 15th time. Off the very next ball, Broad got rid of Labuschagne.

However, the English veteran pacer has now shared a minute detail which he reckons played a part in him getting the better of Labuschagne first up. The 36-year-old made this revelation in a column he wrote for The Daily Mail.

"As for the ball that got Labuschagne, that’s the one I am looking to bowl him by design. A couple of policemen did me a favor when they got in Marnus’ eyeliner and slowed things down a bit, allowing me to focus and with that one I was able to follow through with the plan and that’s always a really nice feeling," he said in his piece.

"I played three out of my four County Championship games for Nottinghamshire this season on really slow pitches, so I wanted to bring the outside edge into things more and that’s why I worked on it with Kevin Shine, our bowling coach, earlier this year," he added.

However, Broad also expressed his disappointment over how he bowled the hat-trick ball to Steve Smith. While he said that the plan was to bowl a yorker or full toss, he admitted to have been left confused with how much Smith moved.

"My was execution was zero. The plan to Steve Smith was a yorker or full toss, and to be honest, he shocked me with how much he moved," he said.

Broad has rated the pitch at Edgbaston as one of the slowest he has played on in English conditions and it would be interesting to see how the match progresses from here with England scoring 393/8 in the first innings and bowling out Australia for 386. Overall, Broad finished with figures of 3/68.