England were desperate for wickets ast Tea approached on day three at Lord’s, with Australia’s lead already stretching past 150. Broad was into his eighth over and had yet to take a wicket after England had completed their dismal collapse in the morning session. Labuschagne had come in after David Warned fell to Josh Tongue for 25, and looked promising to improve on his disappointing showing at Edgbaston.

Broad charged in from the Pavilion End having been driven for back-to-back fours by Usman Khawaja in his previous over. He sent down three short balls in his first four of the over before pushing one fuller for his fifth. It was a tempter, wide outside the off stump, and Labuschagne chased it. As he slashed his bat past the delivery, Broad launched off in celebration apparently sure he’d heard a nick.

He wasn’t the only one. As he charged down the pitch with his arms in the air, Joe Root met him with a double high-five. Neither looked in the umpire’s direction until it became clear from Labuschagne’s unmoved presence that Chris Gaffaney had not raised his finger. Both immediately turned to Stokes, who looked less than convinced that the ball had indeed scratched Labuschagne’s edge. As the clock ticked down and both Broad and Root pleaded, he opted not to review. Root in particular looked unhappy with the decision, both hands on top of his head.

As it happened, when the replay went up on the big screen, it was clear the ball hadn’t taken anything off the bat. If there was a noise, it could only have been the bat hitting the ground.

The very next ball, Broad bowled a swinging delivery that thumped into Labuschagne’s pads. This time, he was even more convinced he had Labuschagne. Again he ran down the pitch with both arms outstretched, but again Chris Gaffaney’s arm stayed firmly by his side. Jonny Bairstow was the voice of reason this time, signalling to Stokes that the ball was sliding down the leg side.

Stokes seemed to trust Bairstow’s judgement more than his most enthusiastic bowler’s, and again opted to forgo the review. He was proved right when the ball tracking showed it was missing leg stump by a clear margin.

After the Tea interval, Broad was back at it. He hit Labuschagne on the pad and once again set off down the wicket. As with the other two attempts, he was unable to convince Stokes to review that one either. However, he was left less than impressed when Brendon McCullum signalled from the balcony that ball tracking showed that one would indeed have done for Labuschagne.