Ben Stokes, the captain of England, agreed that Alex Carey was right to stump Jonny Bairstow, but he brought up the old argument about the Spirit of Cricket.
Bairstow’s dismissal caused a big storm on the fifth afternoon at Lord’s. The crowd booed Australia, and during the lunch break, two MCC members confronted Usman Khawaja and David Warner in the Long Room. After the game, MCC said they were sorry for what they did.
Stokes said after England lost the second Test by 43 runs, “If the shoe were on the other foot, I would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked if they had called over and thought deeply about the spirit of the game and if I would have done something like that.”
Bairstow left his line after ducking under the ball because he thought the ball was out of play. But the referee and the fielders said that the ball was still very much in play, and Carey was quick enough to take advantage of that with a laser-accurate throw from behind the wickets.
“Jonny was in his spot and then stepped out of it to come down and talk. I don’t argue with the fact that it’s out, because it’s out. Would that be how I’d want to win a game? “No, that’s my answer,” Stokes said on Test Match Special.
“When does it make sense for the judges to call time? Are the judges on the field moving? Is that enough to call time? I’m not sure.”
Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia, backed up his wicketkeeper and said that the decision was “fair play.”
“I think Carey has seen it a few times before,” said Cummins. “There’s no break; once you catch it, you throw it. I thought it was all in good fun. The rule is like that. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but just like yesterday’s catch, the rule is there, and that’s how I saw it.”
