England Test captain Ben Stokes took a jibe at the Australian media after they mocked him by using his photo on a baby, calling England team 'crybabies' in the aftermath of the Lord's Test controversy.
This came after the second Ashes 2023 Test between England and Australia at the Lord’s ended in controversy over Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal on day five of the match. Bairstow was caught out of his crease when he assumed the end of the over was called and was stumped by Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey.
This led to England camp calling out the Australians for violating the ‘spirit of the game’, while the Kangaroos claimed the dismissal to be within the rules of the game.
Stokes, on the other hand, said that he would have never appealed for the dismissal had he been in Australia captain's place.
"The first thing that needs to be said is, it is out. If I was the fielding captain I would have put a lot more pressure on the umpires to ask them what their decision was around the over and around the spirit of the game and whether would I want to potentially win a game with something like that happening - and it would be no.
It was an unfortunate situation, but it was an incredible game and I don't think we should be talking too much about something like that," Stokes had said.
England lost the game by 43 runs in the end chasing 371 to win, despite Stokes’ belligerent knock of 155 runs.
Australian media trolled Stokes by posting a picture of him crying like a baby with a headline reading 'Cry Babies'.
Ahead of the third Ashes Test at Leeds, Stokes mocked the Australian media by saying: "I mean they could have had picked up a photo where I didn't have a beard it might have made it look a little bit better. It's a bit strange A baby with a beard on in it?"
Here is the video:
The third Ashes Test begins on July 6 at Headingley, Leeds.
