Ben Stokes puts Marnus Labuschagne in headlock during explosive Ashes fight in Sydney

England captain Ben Stokes has had a stunning season with the ball, which he continued during the Ashes as well. After being hit for two back-to-back boundaries by Travis Head, the England captain indulged in a heated exchange with Marnus Labuschagne, the batter at the non-striker's end.

The Ashes' control has once again gone from the hands of Australia to England, after their Ashes campaign found pace following their first win in Australia after a long 14-year wait. England won the MCG Test and were eyeing the win at SCG to restore their lost honour.

Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have been eyeing the control of the England team based on the outcomes of the Sydney Test. England, till now, have not been able to bring out their very best, which has posed a cloud of insecurity on McCullum's strategies as a red ball coach.

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Ben Stokes and Marnus Labuschagne engage in a heated exchange on Day 2 at the SCG

After England managed to post a dependable total of 384, with Joe Root leading the way with a massive 160, and Harry Brook also taking control of Day 1 with an extended half-century innings, the Aussies came out to bat for 35 overs of Day 2.

Australian batter Travis Head dominated on another occasion. During the ending moments of the Day's play, captain Ben Stokes bowled a tight over to Head until the left-handed explosive batter broke open the shackles to hit two consecutive boundaries.

Marnus Labuschagne then spoke a few words with Stokes, and soon it escalated to an altercation between the two hot-headed cricketers. Stokes came back and placed his shoulder around Labuschagne's shoulders as they spoke in a headlock situation.

For a moment, it seemed Labuschagne stepped back after being intimidated by Stokes's personality, as the two players walked back and the situation ended smoothly. Stokes later dismissed Labuschagne in his next over as he edged a wide ball off to gully and missed out on his well-deserved half-century.

THE HEATED MOMENTS BETWEEN BEN STOKES & MARNUS LABUSCHANGE. 🥶

- This is Ashes, The Cinema..!!!!

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Ben Stokes leads with the ball after being dismissed for a duck

Ben Stokes could not help Joe Root with the bat. When Harry Brook was dismissed after a promising partnership with Root, the England skipper made it out to the middle. However, on this occasion as well, he was once again dismissed by Mitchell Starc's bowling.

He has been dismissed an uncountable number of times by this series of left-arm pacers from Australia. After being dismissed for a duck, he took control of the Australian batting innings with the ball.

Stokes picked the two wickets that fell during Australia's promising start on Day 2. He finished with 2/30 in his 8.1 overs for the day and got the wickets of opener Jake Wetherald and then had the last laugh over Marnus Labuschagne.

Travis Head nears third century of Ashes 2025-26

Keeping aside Ben Stokes, the rest of the English pacers received some thrashing from the Australian opener Travis Head. Ever since Head was promoted to open the innings for Australia, he has seemed to have rediscovered his fine form in red-ball cricket.

Head hurried onto his 91 off just 87 balls with 15 boundaries and neared his third century as the opener in this series. His first century came in the second innings in Perth, and then he followed with another in the second innings in Adelaide.

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