Australia batter Usman Khawaja sent Stuart Broad an “immediate warning” that he would not allow him to carry out his bail trick on himself. The England bowler has claimed to have played a part in changing the luck for the hosts on the second day of the fifth Ashes Test at the Kia Oval.
Australia had a slow start to day two as England struggled to make the breakthrough. Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne put on just 42 runs in a partnership which lasted 26 overs in response to England’s 283 all out.
Mark Wood finally got the first wicket of the day shortly before lunch when Joe Root held on to a stunning catch at first slip. Labuschagne’s 82-ball vigil ended on just nine.
But replays have since shown that Broad may have had an impact on the wicket despite not bowling at the time. The 37-year-old walked up to the stumps and switched over the bails at the striker’s end.
The ball immediately after saw Labuschagne dismissed. Broad went straight up to Khawaja afterwards and had a brief word with him before celebrating with his team-mates.
Broad explained in the press conference after the day’s play that he had heard a switch of bails brings about luck. He said: “I’ve heard, I sort of might have made this up, I’ve heard it’s like an Aussie change-of-luck thing.
“I’ve seen Nathan Lyon do it and I feel like I’ve seen Justin Langer do it. I could have just made that up!
“There were a few play and misses in the morning session and we needed to make a breakthrough. I thought I’d have a little change of the bails.
“Marnus is someone who would notice everything and he took notice of it. I think Uzzy said something to him, like ‘I’ve seen someone do that before’ and then it just worked out pretty magically that he nicked the next ball and Rooty took a great catch.
“I randomly went and celebrated with Uzzy for some reason but it was just a nice little change of bails to change the luck and it seemed to work on that ball.”
But Khawaja was determined to not allow Broad to do the same trick on him. Asked what Khawaja said, Broad replied: “He said ‘If you touch my bails I’m flipping them straight back’. So he gave me an immediate warning.”
Former England skipper Nasser Hussain noticed the incident while on commentary duty for Sky. He said: “Broad, magic after lunch. Magic just before lunch as well, flicking the bails over.”
Broad has since tweeted: “Now I’d heard changing the bails is an Aussie thing to attempt to change luck. I’ve currently not had this confirmed by any Aussie- have I made that up?!”
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