Stuart Broad reveals the reason behind his on-field spat with Ben Stokes in Centurion Test

Stuart Broad will be handling the extra burden of leading the England pace attack in the remaining two Tests against South Africa after his bowling partner James Anderson was ruled out of the remainder of the series with a broken rib. However, the tall Nottinghamshire lad was in news for something else during the second Test in Centurion.

The match was won by some magic from England’s mercurial all-rounder Ben Stokes, who picked three wickets as South Africa chased a huge target after he had scored a quickfire 70-odd in the second innings for his team.

However, on the third day of the encounter, during a drink break, cameras caught Broad and Stokes engaging in a heated discussion with some finger-wagging happening as well. Now Broad has revealed what transpired between him and Stokes and how it all ended amicably.

England clinched the Centurion Test by 187 runs

“We got a wicket and in the huddle afterwards, I said ‘Boys, I think we can up our standards out here, bowlers can hit the lengths harder, fielders can stop the ones, they’re on top of us with their energy’ Stokesy went ‘I don’t agree with you.’ Which is great. You don’t want yes men, do you?,” the England opening bowler was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

Broad further mentioned that he said “I don’t agree with you, I think we’ve been good” and then went back and a couple of minutes later gave a big fist pump and later in the evening also texted me saying sorry for the disagreement. “There’s no need to say sorry. That’s a sport. That’s what it’s about. It’s part of why communication is so strong in this group. The great thing about that was it was just two blokes trying to get England in a better place,” he added.

England had lost the first Test by 107 runs but fought back to win the Centurion Test by 187 runs and Stokes was named the Man of the Match for his work with both bat and the ball. The final two matches of the four-match series will be played at Port Elizabeth (Jan 16-20) and Johannesburg (Jan 24-28) respectively.

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