Team Stuart Broad expressed his surprise that no senior Australian player had raised a moral objection to the firing of Jonny Bairstow.
The highly-discussed dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the Lord’s Test left Stuart Broad “amazed” that “not one senior player” in the Australian team “questioned what they had done” during or after.
Two days after a contentious fifth day at Lord’s, when England lost to trail the Ashes 2-0, Broad discussed the cultural assessment Australia underwent in the wake of the ball-tampering episode involving sandpaper in Cape Town in 2018.
“What astonished me, and what I said to the Australians as we left the field at lunch, was that not one senior player among them questioned what they had done. I completely appreciate in the heat of the game that the bowler and wicketkeeper would have thought ‘That’s out.
“Especially in light of everything their squad has gone through recently, including all of their cultural shift. None of them said, “Hold on, fellas.” I’m not certain about this. None of them had the thinking, “He’s not gaining anything.” He is not attempting to gain a lead. The over is coming to a close. It’s kind of a haphazard rejection. We ought to withdraw that appeal.
In the end, Pat Cummins is a genuinely lovely man, and even if his main goal at the moment was winning a Test match, I would be surprised if he does not step back and say, “I got that one wrong,” once the emotion has subsided.
When England was five runs down and still needed 178 runs to win, the event happened: Bairstow dove underneath a short ball from Cameron Green, scratched the crease with his boot, and then moved down the field toward his partner Ben Stokes at the non-striker’s end. Alex Carey, the wicketkeeper, caught the ball on the bounce and quickly under-armed a throw at the striker’s end stumps before Bairstow had even started to leave his area.
Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney, the on-field umpires, submitted the matter to TV umpire Marais Erasmus, who declared the batter out and recorded the dismissal as a stumping. Boos echoed throughout Lord’s as Bairstow walked away, glaring at the Australian group.
The audience, which had been mostly quiet for the first four days of this Test, then continuously chanted, “Same old Aussies, always cheating.” The key question, according to Broad, was whether Bairstow was “looking to gain an advantage” and he rejected similarities to earlier instances in which England was the team attempting to get Bairstow fired.
Yes, I have seen a video from earlier in the game where Jonny himself threw the ball at the stumps while posing as the wicketkeeper. But that was because Marnus Labuschagne was trying to get the lbw out of the game by batting outside of his crease
. Or, to put it another way, looking for a benefit,” Broad wrote. “Videos of Colin de Grandhomme being run out in the Lord’s Test last year have circulated as well, and it is just the most absurd analogy imaginable because Ollie Pope threw down the stumps from the gully after he was hit on the pad while running down the pitch. attempting to get an advantage once more. Regarding the Jonny incident, no advantage was gained there because he let the ball go, made a mark within the crease, then went to speak with Ben Stokes after realizing the over had over.
Additionally, if you watch the video of when the stumps were broken, you’ll notice that one umpire has the bowler’s cap in his hand and the other is walking in from square leg with his head down, movements that imply they too believed the over was over.
Is the ball still live because Alex Carey caught it and threw it, according to the rules of the game? Probably. Is England gaining anything by doing this? No. Does everyone in a packed stadium believe the game’s over? Yes. “As for the Jonny incident, there was no benefit to be had there: he let the ball go, scratched his mark inside the crease, and after admitting that the over was finished, he walked to speak to Ben Stokes.
Additionally, if you watch the video of when the stumps were broken, you’ll notice that one umpire has the bowler’s cap in his hand and the other is walking in from square leg with his head down, movements that imply they too believed the over was over. Is the ball still live because Alex Carey caught it and threw it, according to the rules of the game? Probably
. Is England gaining anything by doing this? No. Does everyone in a packed stadium believe the game’s over? Yes. Jonathan Agnew has already moved past the ball’s call in the BBC radio commentary. Alex Carey catches the ball and tosses it, but according to the rules of the game, is the ball still live? Probably. Is England gaining any advantage at all? No.
Do you believe the ball has left the field with a packed stadium? Yes. Jonathan Agnew’s commentary on BBC radio has already moved past the ball’s call. Broad did not approve of the insults directed at the Australian players by some MCC members as they moved through the large room at Lord’s during the lunch break, but he did not consider it unusual.
He also touched on the lengthy conversation he had with the Australian teammates after taking Bairstow’s place in the middle. “I’ve never witnessed a reaction from the Lord’s crowd like that; they are enormous cricket fans.
They were furious. Having toured Australia four times, I cannot say that the MCC members’ yelling at the players was appropriate, but I do not believe that antagonistic behavior toward visiting teams is unusual. Stuart Broad: “I always perform better when I’m engaged in a little combat.” I usually try to pick fights with opponents, but on this particular occasion I picked fights with the entire team.’•Getty Images
When I arrived at the crease to take Jonny’s position, “the red mist came over me, too. Some of what I shouted was caught up on the stump mics, which foolishly, given my experience, I didn’t think about. Australia’s choice infuriated me, especially after hearing their remarks about forging a new history as a team and their evolution since the 2018 tour of South Africa.
All these books are for you, Pat, I’ve been repeating to you, ‘This is what you’ll be remembered for, and that’s such a shame,’ I remarked to Alex Carey. I also shouted “in” each time I crossed the line, though that may have been a little foolish. The Australians were irritated by it for maybe a half-hour, but after 2.5 hours, they were probably getting a little tired of it. On Thursday, the third Ashes Test would start, and Broad anticipated it will be a feisty match, as did Stokes, Pat Cummins, and Brendon McCullum. “Headingley isn’t always the quietest place, but this week we’ll have to take advantage of the atmosphere.”
