It was an innocuous tweet really. Stuart Broad was expressing his apparent surprise at how some of his poorest countrymen were still among the richest in the world, and called for some humility. “I've heard if you earn minimum wage in England you're in the top 10% earners in the world. #stay#humble” he had said. It had strangely come only days after Kevin Pietersen had spoken about county cricketers being ‘muppets’ who earn 15 to 18 grand pounds and being better off looking for alternative employment. Now Broad and Pietersen have always had a history, especially on the Twittersphere, and it didn't take long for many to link Broad's tweet to his former teammate's comments. But while the lanky fast bowler dismissed these claims, his justification for having gone public with his views was as bizarre as the tweet itself. “It was a genuine thought at how big the world was. That's with my mind-set in it. I didn't see the other side of it,” he said at the WACA on Wednesday. Broad is no stranger to controversy, not just in the virtual world. He courts it regularly. Two years ago, he had been coined a rather derogatory pseudonym Down Under, where some started referring to him as ‘Stuart Fraud' after he admitted to having nicked a ball during the Trent Bridge Test despite having stood his ground. He had also come under the scanner during the fake Twitter account saga involving Pietersen. Though not quite the enfant terrible, he's been more of the spoilt brat for English cricket in this era. Broad was at the receiving end of a pretty fierce backlash from the Twitterati, as they questioned why a cricketer with a renowned penchant for Jaguars and fancy watches and earning over a million dollars a year was talking about those earning 6.50 pounds per hour, and speaking about humility. “The hashtag was about me. Maybe I misjudged it a bit. Hopefully that will die down a bit,” he explained.
