Self-righteous Broad column pours fuel on Ashes fire as glaring omission exposes hypocrisy

England star Stuart Broad has penned a column in response to Australia’s controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s, writing that he “could not believe” no senior players questioned the appeal.

Bairstow was stumped by Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey in extremely controversial circumstances given it was the end of the over and the Englishman thought it was a dead ball.

However, Carey had tossed the ball at the stumps before Bairstow had even left his crease given the latter had a tendency to vacate it.

It was a moment that flipped the Test and the entire series on its head, with the cricket world split on whether the dismissal was within the spirit of the game.

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Broad, who strode out to the crease after Bairstow had departed, was left furious by the incident. He was involved in a lengthy, petty battle with the Australians thereafter, as he pretended to leave and scramble back to his crease while engaging in several heated, verbal exchanges.

The day after, Broad made his feelings clear in a column for the Daily Mail, in which he also attempted to dispel the claims of hypocrisy that have been levelled at England.

The English team, coach Brendon McCullum, and even Broad himself have been on the wrong side of several high profile ‘spirit-of-the-game’ incidents, which are detailed in full here >

Bairstow attempted to stump Marnus Labuschagne on day 3 in the same fashion to how he was dismissed two days later, while last year, Colin de Grandhomme was run-out by England during an LBW appeal after he thought about taking a single.

Broad dismissed both examples, saying they were not the same because Bairstow wasn’t trying to “gain an advantage”, whereas de Grandhomme was, as was Labuschagne by batting out of his crease to negate LBW.

Curiously, while Broad was happy to pick apart the incidents that have been used against England, there was not one mention of when he failed to walk in 2013 despite edging the ball to first slip.

Some cricketers throughout the years have walked even if they are not initially given out in an act of sportsmanship and most certainly in the spirit of the game.

Yet Broad, who knew he edged it, stood his ground and refused to acknowledge the fact he had hit the ball, thus immediately catapulting him to No. 1 villain status among Aussies.

Instead, Broad skirted around that prominent example of questionable sportsmanship to try and keep the heat on the Australians.

Broad said he was left baffled by the Aussies’ decision to continue with their appeal, particularly because of the “cultural change” the team had undergone in the wake of Sandpapergate.

“What amazed me, and what I told the Australians I could not believe as we left the field at lunch, was that not one senior player among them — and I very much understand in the emotion of the game that the bowler and wicketkeeper would have thought ‘that’s out’ — questioned what they had done,” Broad wrote.

“Not one of them said: ‘Hang on, lads. I’m not really sure about this.’ Not one of them thought: ‘He’s gaining no advantage. He’s not trying to get a run. It’s the end of the over. It’s a bit of a random dismissal. We should cancel that appeal.’”

Broad specifically called out captain Pat Cummins, who he said is a “really great guy”, but will think “I got that one wrong” in the future.

Meanwhile, the England veteran conceded the “red mist” came over him in the immediate aftermath, some of which was picked up via the stump mic.

He even had a cheeky way of tormenting the Aussies in his spell out in the middle.

“It may have been a bit silly, but I also shouted ‘in’ every time I crossed the line,” Broad wrote.

“It annoyed the Australians for maybe half-an-hour, although after two-and-a-half hours, they were probably a bit bored of it.”