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The Ashes: Stuart Broad revisits his most challenging Australia trip

Ahead of the first Test at Gabba, England’s spearhead Stuart Broad has opened about his most challenging series.

 The Ashes has always brought the best and worst of the England and Australian players on and off the field. Let alone players, it has often shown how hostile the crowd can be to the visiting team. For that matter, the Australian spectators are known for their notorious behaviour. Now, ahead of the first Test at Gabba, England’s spearhead Stuart Broad has opened about his most challenging series.

In an interview with dailymail.co.uk, Broad said, ‘They called me Stuart Fraud. It was a proper campaign after their coach called for it at the end of the Oval Test match that August.” This had happened when the Australian coach, Darren Lehmann, called him a cheat at the end of 2013 Ashes series.

Broad further added, “Australia had gone through a bit of a tough time. They’d lost a few Ashes on the bounce, then gone to India and got beaten, then got knocked out of the Champions Trophy, then we beat them 3-0. To be fair, he used his initiative. Well, maybe the Australian public are losing a bit of faith in Australian cricket, so let’s give them something to get behind.”

Talking about Lehmann, Broad explained, “Whether or not Lehmann meant it to get as big as it got, it was a really smart move. He said something about being a blatant cheat for nicking and not walking, whereas 22 players out of 25 in that series nicked it and didn’t walk. He was theoretically calling his own team the same. But it was quite a well-judged way to get the Australian media and public behind their team. I enjoyed it.”

This will be Broad’s sixth Ashes.

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