SA vs ENG | It wasn’t a spat with Stokes, just two blokes trying to get England to better place, reveals Stuart Broad

After illness had taken captain Joe Root and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler down, an inaudible but visual heated argument between Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes had further spoiled the series opener against South Africa. It was when Dwaine Pretorius was on his way out to bat that the two were found fighting out a disagreement. Not too sure what it was all about, what started it, but obviously the vice-captain was not a very happy man. The reason behind the apparent spat, which the commentators ruled as ‘normal’, was unclear at that point. But Broad has now opened up about the same. 

“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?,” Broad was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.

“He said ‘I don’t agree with you, I think we’ve been good’. I said: ‘Fair enough, it’s just my opinion but I don’t think we’ve been very good’. And we had a bit of back and forth like that. I really liked that. A couple of minutes later he walked over and gave me a big fist pump and he even texted me that night saying something like ‘Sorry, mate, for that disagreement’,” Broad revealed.

However, according to Broad, there is no bitterness between the two mainstays of the English cricket team. While England went on to lose the said first Test by 107 runs, the visitors made a comeback in the second Test, winning the match by 189 runs with Stokes pulling off another stunner.

“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.