'Just for clarity': Broad hits back over Warner's 'surfboard' dig at Root, claim Aussie star 'has his number'

They engaged in plenty of tussles on the cricket pitch – and even after retirement, David Warner and Stuart Broad have kept their battle going.

Ahead of this summer’s hotly anticipated Ashes series, the former England quick, who tormented the Australian opener in the latter stages of his career, was quick to return serve after Warner claimed star batter Joe Root would be vulnerable down under against the hosts’ star bowling attack – and Josh Hazlewood in particular.

In an interview with BBC Sport, Warner, who is in England ahead of The Hundred T20 competition, where he will be playing for London Spirit, said Hazlewood ‘tends to have his number’.

“The big anchor there [in England’s batting order] is Rooty, who is yet to score a hundred in Australia,” the 38-year old said.

“Josh Hazlewood tends to have his number quite a lot. He will have to take the surfboard off his front leg.”

The barb didn’t go unnoticed by Broad, who fired back on social media, dismissing Warner’s suggestion that Root will be an LBW candidate over the summer.

“Just for clarity. Hazelwood [sic] has got Rooty LBW in Test Cricket 3 times. Three,” Broad wrote.

https://x.com/StuartBroad8/status/1951590705010196499

Hazlewood does have an excellent record against Root in Tests, having taken the England star’s wicket 10 times at an average of 31.4 – well below his career average of over 51.

However, he is only Australia’s second-most prolific quick against the 34-year old, with captain Pat Cummins managing his scalp 11 times, equal-most with Indian star Jasprit Bumrah.

In Warner’s defence, though, Root has been dismissed LBW 52 times in 287 Test innings to date – the most of any cricketer since the start of 2013.

Broad famously tortured Warner in the later stages of the Australian dynamo’s career, eventually taking his wicket 17 times – including a staggering seven times in ten innings on his infamous 2019 tour of England in which he averaged just 9.5. Three of those were LBW.

The pair are set to commentate on the summer’s Ashes for rival networks, with Warner employed by Fox Cricket and Broad recruited by Channel Seven.