It was hard to know whether it was a message to Australia or his own bowlers. Ben Stokes signed off from a frustrating second evening in Sydney by swapping words out in the middle with Marnus Labuschagne. Seemingly reacting to something said by Labuschagne as the hosts made a rapid reply to England’s 384, Stokes was heard saying “shut the fuck up” at the end of the over he had just bowled. He then walked over and put an arm around his opponent’s shoulder to continue the exchange.
As the umpires, Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney, moved in, Stokes walked away after giving Labuschagne a squeeze. As per the ICC code of conduct, the England captain could be reprimanded under clause 2.12 regarding “inappropriate physical contact”.
It was fairly trivial, much like India’s Akash Deep putting an arm around Ben Duckett after dismissing him at Edgbaston in August. That incident led to no further action, with Jeff Crowe, the ICC match referee here, probably deciding the same.
Stokes enjoyed the final say in his following over by dismissing Labuschagne for 48, but Australia closed on 166 for two. Travis Head’s unbeaten 91 had taken to England’s wayward bowlers in the final session, with Stokes, two for 30, clawing things back on his own.
“I want the goss as well,” said Joe Root, when asked about the incident, the impact of his 160 having been whittled away by Head’s rapid-fire reply.
Michael Neser, struck on the arm by Stokes with the final ball of the day, said: “[Labuschagne] has a knack … he’s such a strong competitor and can get under your skin. It’s just Marnus for you.”
The outburst from Stokes was not the only thing Root found himself asked about, with Jamie Smith’s much-discussed dismissal by Labuschagne the trigger for England’s lower-order collapse of five for 61.
Smith fell with the second new ball on the horizon, slapping a long hop from Labuschagne’s part-time medium pace to deep extra cover, Justin Langer, the former Australia head coach, called it “one of the dumbest shots you’ll ever see in Test cricket”, while Alastair Cook simply labelled it “terrible”.
Root said: “It was about maximising that 10-over period ahead of facing that new ball. Twenty runs could be the difference later on down the line. So there was method behind what we’re trying to do.
“We’re trying to move the game forward all the time. And when it doesn’t come off, it can look a certain way. But you’re never playing to get out. You’re playing to score runs.
“As a batter, your job is not to survive, it’s to score runs. You can’t win games just surviving. You have to score more runs than the opposition.”
Root had been exemplary, scoring his 41st Test century and 24th since the start of 2021 – the latter 14 more that the next best in this period – and moving within 2,000 runs of Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921 in Test cricket and showing no loss of appetite.
Asked if, aged 35, he could see himself making the next Ashes tour in 2029-30, Root said: “Who knows? We’ll see. I would love to. But we’ll see how things unfold in time.”