{"id":392873,"date":"2026-01-05T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392873\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T10:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T10:00:15","slug":"ben-stokes-marnus-labuschagne-in-heated-exchange-during-fifth-test-video-adam-gilchrist-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392873\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Stokes, Marnus Labuschagne in heated exchange during fifth Test, video, Adam Gilchrist comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took until the fifth Test, but there was finally some proper Ashes<\/a> spice at the SCG when Ben Stokes<\/a> and Marnus Labuschagne<\/a> got into a heated exchange.<\/p>\n

As light began to fade and rain threatened in the final session on day two, the England skipper’s frustration began to grow as the Australian batters took control.<\/p>\n

Travis Head – who finished the day unbeaten on 91<\/a> – had just hit two boundaries off an over from Stokes, before a mid-pitch discussion over the bad light started.<\/p>\n

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The umpires were chatting with Head and Labuschagne when an irate Stokes walked past and started going back-and-forth with the eccentric Aussie batter.<\/p>\n

Stokes continued walking but Labuschagne clearly said something that got under his skin, with the champion all-rounder making a beeline back towards his rival.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes and Marnus Labuschagne exchange words.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Things then got physical for a brief moment when Stokes wrapped his arm around Labuschagne’s neck and gave him a little squeeze and tap on the chest.<\/p>\n

At one stage, it looked like Stokes told Labuschagne to “shut the f–k up”.<\/p>\n

Labuschagne seemed to be all smiles after the incident, but that didn’t last long when Stokes forced him into an edge and dismissed him for 48 just moments later.<\/p>\n

“There was a little bit of fire,” Adam Gilchrist<\/a> said on Fox Cricket at the close of play.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t seen a lot of anger or aggression or anything over the top during the series, it’s been played in quite a friendly spirit – but it just got a little bit heated and maybe it’s the fifth Test, everyone is getting a little bit tired.<\/p>\n

“This little confrontation between Ben Stokes and Marnus Labuschagne, the verbals started and we thought where has it been? It looked like it was done and dusted, a little bit of backchat \u2026 but something caught Stokes’ attention and he goes back to Marnus.<\/p>\n

“He actually puts his arm around him. I don’t know if that was trying to diffuse the situation, but it still looked like it was pretty heated.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes puts his arm around Marnus Labuschagne. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Australian women’s star Alyssa Healy<\/a> conceded that Stokes could face some scrutiny.<\/p>\n

“He might have a little trip to the match referee,” she said.<\/p>\n

“This is what we expect in an Ashes series – none of that situation, but a bit of spice and heat and frustration at times. It probably just reflects the series for England so far, it has been a frustrating one and particularly for someone like Ben Stokes.<\/p>\n

“You want to see the passion and aggression and this is what Marnus lives for.”<\/p>\n

Brett Lee, who played in his fair share of Ashes series’, claimed there wasn’t much in it.<\/p>\n

“Should you touch an opposition player? The answer is no. Is there anything wrong with that? I’d say no,” the former Aussie fast-bowler said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes fires up at Marnus Labuschagne. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Michael Neser was asked after play whether he had a problem with another player touching the other but was careful in his reply saying “it depends on the context”. <\/p>\n

Neser also said he had no idea what was said between the too. <\/p>\n

Australia finished the day at 2-166 with Head and nightwatchman Neser at the crease when stumps were called one ball into the final over due to rain.<\/p>\n

The hosts remain 218 runs behind England’s first innings tally, which was mostly built off the back of an incredible century from Joe Root<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took until the fifth Test, but there was finally some proper Ashes spice at the SCG when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-392873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}