Ben Stokes insisted he would not have wanted to win a Test match in the manner of Jonny Bairstow’s controversial wicket, after Australia took a 2-0 series lead following a narrow victory at Lord’s.
As a game, the second Ashes Test had a bit of everything, individual heroics, excitement, a game that went down to the wire, and moments that will be debated and live in the memory far longer than Australia will be in the country.
On the morning of the fifth day, England were 193-5, chasing a total of 371 to win, when one of the last recognised batters was controversially out, with the hosts eventually losing by 43 runs.
Bairstow ducked a bouncer, which went straight through to Alex Carey behind the stumps, paused for a moment then went to speak to his batting partner Ben Stokes, just as the wicketkeeper threw the ball at the stumps and appealed.
The decision was made after an umpire review and a furious Bairstow had to make his way back into the pavilion.
“I think, to take the whole situation into consideration, the first thing that needs to be said is that it is out,” Stokes said.
“The things I had to consider out there was the fact it was the last ball of the over and I very shortly questioned the umpires as to whether they had called over,
“Both umpires were making the gesture walking towards their opposite position. Jonny was in his crease, then left his crease to come out and have the conversation between overs like every batsman does.
“If I was fielding captain at the time, I would have put a lot more pressure on the umpires to ask them what their decision was around the ‘over’.
“Then I would have had a real think about the spirit of the game and would I want to potentially win a game with something like that happening. It would be no.”
Australia’s Alex Carey (centre) celebrates the wicket of Jonny Bairstow— (PA Wire)
The debate may rage and dominate much of the talk before the next Test match, which starts on Thursday at Headingley, over whether the decision was in the “spirit of cricket” although what exactly that means has not ever truly been defined.
“Well, I think firstly it was more of a thing in terms spirit of the game that developed as you become a little bit more mature and you’ve been around the game for a long period of time and you realise the game itself is something you need to protect, and the spirit is such an important part of that,” England head coach Brendon McCullum said to Test Match Special.
“I think you’ve got to take decisions in the moment, they’re not easy to make and sometimes they can have a pretty big effect on not just games but also on people’s characters as well.
“It’s one of those difficult ones to swallow and when you look at a small margin at the end and you think of a player like Jonny Bairstow who so many times in chases stood up and performed it’s incredibly disappointing, but in the end lots of people will have their opinion on it, they’ll sit on both sides of the fence and probably the most disappointing aspect is it’s probably going to be the most talked about part of what was a great Test match.”
Australia won by 43 runs to take a 2-0 series lead despite Stokes’ individual heroics— (AFP via Getty Images)
Australia captain Pat Cummins defended the tactic but Stuart Broad had a different approach when the wicket brought him to the crease, turning to wicketkeeper Carey and saying ‘that’s all you’ll be remembered for, that’.
“I thought it was fair. You see Jonny do it all the time, he did it day one to Warner, he did it in 2019 to Steve, it’s a really common thing for keepers to do,” Cummins said.
“Caz [Carey] – full credit to him he saw the opportunity a few balls beforehand and rolled at the stumps, Jonny left his crease and we’ll leave the rest to the umpires.
