Bairstow had threatened to dismiss Head in the exact same manner he got out in the second Test at Lord’s.
Just before the lunch break on the final day, Bairstow was dismissed in a bizarre manner. The English batter wandered out of his crease after ducking a Cameron Green bouncer and Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey stumped him out.
Speaking on LiSTNR’s Willow Talk podcast, Head narrated what exactly happened out there in the middle when Bairstow was stumped on Day 5 of the second Ashes Test.
“Jonny Bairstow was stumped. I quickly whipped my bat back and questioned Jonny on whether he would take the stumps and he said, ‘Bloody oath I would’, and ran off,” Head stated.
After the incident, a video emerged on social media, in which Bairstow can be seen attempting a similar stumping to dismiss Australia’s No.3 Marnus Labuschagne on Day 3 at Lord’s.
“We’d seen (Bairstow) try to do it and I’ve seen it happen a few times,” he added.
Citing the example of a Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and New South Wales, Head said: “Remember Tommy Cooper getting done at the SCG. ‘Nevs’ (Peter Nevill) threw the stumps down on him.
“If you put on the England hat, they’re disappointed. But the Australia (side), to the letter of the law, which was explained with Mitchell Starc’s catch the day before that it would be out…
“I know they’ve questioned it differently if they were in the same situation but with all the heat out of the air, saying that is a little bit different than in the moment.
Ever since the incident, the English media and their former cricketers have slammed the Australian team for not keeping with the spirit of the game.
England pacer Stuart Broad has also questioned the visitors’ cultural change since the infamous ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
“Ultimately, Pat Cummins is a really great guy and I would be amazed, once the emotion settles, if he does not sit back and think, ‘I got that one wrong’, even though his bottom line at the time was winning a Test match,” Broad wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
“I was angered by Australia’s decision, particularly having heard their lines about creating a new legacy as a team, and how they have changed since the tour of South Africa in 2018,” he added.
“I just said to Pat on repeat: ‘All these boos are for you, for your decision.’ And: ‘What a great opportunity you had to think clearly’.”
Reacting to Broad’s comment, Head said: “(Stuart Broad’s) comments that the whole of Australia would wake up and Pat wouldn’t be captain … He seems to forget our fans are pretty loyal and pretty happy with the way the Australians are going about things.”