Australia batsman Shane Watson has backed Darren Lehmann after the team coach accused England’s Stuart Broad of “blatant cheating".
Broad has annoyed Australia’s players and supporters with his behaviour during the ongoing Ashes, which England lead by an unbeatable 3-0 with only the final Test at The Oval, which started Wednesday, left.
The 27-year-old Broad angered his Australian opponents in particular during England’s narrow 14-run first Test win at Trent Bridge, his Nottinghamshire home ground, when he refused to walk after a thick edge deflected off the wicketkeeper’s gloves to slip.
Former Australia batsman Lehmann was unimpressed, telling Australian radio station Triple M in an interview broadcast on Wednesday: “Certainly our players haven’t forgotten, they’re calling him everything under the sun as they go past.
“I hope the Australian public are the same because that was just blatant cheating. I don’t advocate walking but when you hit it to first slip it’s pretty hard,” he said.
“From my point of view I just hope the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer and I hope he cries and he goes home,” Lehmann added.