Atherton alluded to altercation between Mohammed Siraj and Ben Duckett.
In reference to the slight shoulder barge between Mohammed Siraj and Ben Duckett during the Melbourne Test last year, former England cricketer Michael Atherton stated that no one wants to witness physical altercations on the field of play. He also added that Virat Kohli's shoulder barge to Sam Konstas should not be allowed.
Following an angry response to England opener Duckett's wicket on the fourth day of the third Test at Lord's, Siraj was given one demerit point and fined 15% of his match fee on Monday. Siraj dismissed Duckett for 12 runs in England's second innings, giving him an angry farewell and shoulder barging the England opener.
“Forgive me for degrading the report of a great match with this nonsense, but wouldn’t spectators rather see players caring too much, rather than too little, about playing Tests," Atherton wrote in his column for The Times.
“No one, of course, wants to see physical altercations on the field of play, or sustained nasty verbal abuse. There should be no place, for example, for the shoulder barge that Virat Kohli initiated in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne last Christmas, when he diverted from his path to walk into Sam Konstas deliberately," Atherton added.
On the first day of the Boxing Day Test in December, Kohli barged his shoulder. Ricky Ponting, the former captain of Australia, then blamed the latter.
Atherton discussed the altercation between Ravindra Jadeja and Brydon Carse, as well as Kohli's incident in Australia.
“In a match where there was plenty of spice and niggle, tempers flared as Carse and Jadeja collided mid-pitch, although the impact was entirely accidental, after Jadeja had deflected the ball towards third man, with both players ball-watching rather than minding each other’s path," Atherton wrote.
Atherton also drew similarities between the thriller at Lord’s on Monday and that of the 2019 World Cup final, which England won on boundary count.
“Six years ago to the day, Lord’s had witnessed the most remarkable finish to any cricket match, when the World Cup final was decided on a boundary countback after a Super Over. Now the game delivered an extraordinary finish again, with two of the protagonists from that day, Stokes and Jofra Archer, taking centre stage," Atherton said.
The fourth Test of the series will be played in Manchester from July 23 onwards.