Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal has triggered the Spirit of Cricket debate.
Bairstow was given out as Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball at the stumps when the English batter walked out of his crease after ducking a bouncer from Cameron Green.
The Australians appealed and the decision was referred to the third umpire Marais Erasmus, who did not take much time in giving Bairstow out.
The dismissal call led to the English media and their current and former cricketers lambasting the Australian team for not keeping with the spirit of the game.
Amid the outrage, former India opener Aakash Chopra pointed out the hypocrisy in English cricket for calling Bairstow’s dismissal against the spirit of cricket.
In the wake of the incident, a fan shared a clip of Henry Nicholls’ dismissal against Jack Leach as the Kiwi batter got caught after his shot hit the bat of non-striker Dary Mitchell.
Taking to Twitter, Chopra quoted a video of that dismissal and wrote: “Ouch. You can even see the torchbearer of ‘The Spirit of the Game’ shrugging his shoulders instead of initiating the process to withdraw the appeal. After all, you wouldn’t want to be remembered for things like these.”
“Also, there are multiple videos circulating calling out their hypocrisy…including some involving the current players. English cricket’s hypocrisy and the sense of entitlement is something else," he added.
The rule 20.1.2 of ICC Playing Conditions states: “The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batsmen at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.”
After the game, however, England skipper Ben Stokes said he would not have preferred a win with the kind of dismissal that led to Bairstow’s departure.
"If the shoe was on the other foot I would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked whether they had called over and had a deep think about the whole spirit of the game and would I want to do something like that. For Australia, it was the match-winning moment. Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no," Stokes told the BBC.
Having lost the first two Tests, England are trailing 0-2 to Australia in the five-match Ashes series. The third Test will be held at Headingley from July 6.