Former England footballer Jamie Carragher made his feelings known on Jonny Bairstow's controversial Ashes dismissal in England's second Test defeat before later deleting his tweet.
Bairstow was given out after he left his crease at the end of an over and Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey hit the stumps. While it was out by the letter of the law, England captain Ben Stokes would later question whether it was truly in the spirit of the game.
Sky came under criticism for their coverage, with the broadcast team siding with Carey's team. Carragher would end up taking down the tweet, but doubled down on his thoughts regarding the dismissal itself.
"Brilliant from Stokes & Broad, and the fella in the long room!" Carragher tweeted after fans confronted players in the aftermath of the call. "Joke that the commentary team are justifying the dismissal of Bairstow, he's not trying to gain an advantage."
"I don’t like Mankads but the batsmen is trying to gain a small advantage, so it’s not the same as Bairstow!" Carragher would later say on Twitter. Unlike in that situation, Bairstow was leaving his crease in preparation for the end of the over.
England captain Stokes appeared invigorated by the controversy, hitting 155 to leave England dreaming of an unlikely victory. They fell short, though, with Australia claiming victory by 43 runs.
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Stokes said he would not like to win a match in the same manner as England's opponents. "There's lots of factors," he said after the game. "I would ask the umpires whether they had called over. The made a move towards the end of the over. But at then of the day it is out.
"If the shoe was on the other foot I would have had a think about the whole spirit of the game. But is has happened. It was out. We have to move on."
Australia captain Pat Cummins, however, had a different take. "I think Carey saw it happen a few balls previous, there was no pause," he said.
"Catch it and throw at the stumps. I thought it was totally fair play. I know some people disagree but it's like the catch yesterday. That's how I saw it."
England will need to rebound quickly at Headingley in the next test. A 15-man squad has been named for the third test at Headingley, with Rehan Ahmed and Matty Potts dropped and one of Chris Woakes or Mark Wood tipped to come into the bowling attack.
