England suffered a 43-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the second Ashes 2023 Test at Lord’s on Sunday (July 2).
The final day's play at Lord's witnessed some drama as England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow was stumped by his counterpart Alex Carey in bizarre circumstances.
During the 52nd over of England’s second innings, Bairstow ducked a short delivery from Cameron Green and almost instantly left his crease assuming that the ball was dead. However, it was a brainfade on his part as Carey was smart enough to have collected the ball and aimed for the stumps in one go to catch Bairstow well outside the crease.
The Australians appealed and celebrated passionately as the decision was referred to the third umpire Marais Erasmus, who did not take much time in giving the batter out.
After the game, England skipper Ben Stokes said he would not have preferred a win with the kind of dismissal that led to Bairstow’s departure.
"When is it justified that the umpires have called over? Is the on-field umpires making movement, is that enough to call over? I'm not sure. Jonny was in his crease then out of his crease. I am not disputing the fact it is out because it is out," Stokes told the BBC.
He added: "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."
After the contentious dismissal, Stokes took the Australian attack to the cleaners, smashing 155 off 214 balls with 9 fours and as many sixes.
However, the English captain insisted that his flurry of boundaries has nothing to do with the manner of Bairstow's exit but rather the situation of the match.
"My innings wasn't a response to the dismissal, it was a response to where the game was," he said. "I had to be mindful and strategic about the risk I was going to take and felt my best options was taking the fielders out of play."
On the other hand, Australia skipper Pat Cummins made it clear that he had no regrets over the mode of Bairstow's dismissal.
"There was nothing untoward or sneaky. Jonny was leaving his crease every ball. He did it four or five balls. You're meant to stay in your crease in cricket. Bairstow has tried it with a lot of our guys," Cummins stated.
When asked if there would be "bad blood" between the two teams, the fast bowler replied: "Not from our team, you might have to ask them (England)."
With this victory, Australia took a 2-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series. The third Test will be played at Headingley from July 6.
(With AFP Inputs)
