Stuart Broad turned the tide for England in the Ashes by taking two wickets in two successive deliveries against Australia. Broad got rid of his old nemesis, David Warner, and Marnus Labuschagne to get his team off to a great start on the second day of the series. Four years ago, Broad had an amazing performance against Warner, limiting him to only 95 runs in the entire Ashes tournament. However, he was eager to renew this contest, which may have added to the motivation behind Ben Stokes’s declaration on the first evening of the 2023 Ashes.
Although Warner survived Broad’s two overs on the first evening, the second morning saw cloudy skies which gave England’s bowlers the desired lateral movement. Playing from around the wicket, just as he did four years ago, Broad made it quite clear that Warner was in trouble. Despite playing out consecutive maidens from Broad, Warner scored his first run of the day by punching James Anderson into a gap in the covers. This brought him on strike for Broad’s fourth over, where he threw his hands at a delivery that he should have left alone, resulting in him inside-edging the ball back onto the stumps. Warner moved his head back in frustration as the Hollies Stand taunted him.
As Marnus Labuschagne, the world’s No 1 ranked batsman, came into bat, Broad relished in his role of geeing up the crowd. He knew Labuschagne’s technique well, having developed an outswinger over the winter specifically with Labuschagne and Steve Smith in mind. He greeted Labuschagne with his new delivery, making him play with his bat, but the ball curved well outside off stump, and he got a sliver of an edge behind. Jonny Bairstow dived in front of first slip and claimed an outstanding one-handed catch.
The Edgbaston crowd went wild with excitement, even when Broad sprayed his hat-trick ball to Steve Smith down the on-side. England had struck their first blows of the series, and it all began with the wicket that the Hollies treasured more than any other.
