The pair became involved in a heated discussion late in the day at the end of 29th over after Stokes had been taken for consecutive boundaries by Travis Head. What sparked the words was unclear, but it may have involved the fading light. As Stokes walked towards his fielding position he appeared to say, “shut the f*** up” to Labuschagne.
Stokes then walked towards Labuschagne and put his arm around him as umpire Ahsan Raza came towards them.
“It just got a bit heated, maybe [because] it’s the fifth Test and maybe everyone is getting a bit tired,” Adam Gilchrist said on Kayo Sports. “It looked like it was done and dusted after a bit of backchat, but something caught Stokes’ attention and he goes back to Marnus and actually puts his arm around him.
“I don’t know whether that was trying to defuse the situation, but it still looked like it was pretty heated. Should you be touching an opposition player in any fashion?”
It was five balls into Stokes’ next over when Labuschagne was back on strike to him. Stokes drew a thick outside edge from a drive that was taken in the gully by Jacob Bethell to end Labuschagne’s stay on 48. Stokes looked in Labuschagne’s direction but there were no further words.
“He loves bowling,” Neser said. “Again, just a massive competitor. It’s not a surprise to us, because he’s actually done that role quite often in Shield cricket and got a fair few wickets bowling short. So it’s not like it’s just a fluke, he’s actually practised it.
“One thing about Marnus, his quicker balls are actually quite a lot quicker. I think you saw his paces, he was in the 130s[kph], and he can bowl anywhere from 112 to 130, so it’s quite hard to get a read on him when he’s going like that.”
