Fans and cricket pundits have been left divided over the ongoing debate about whether Australia was right in not withdrawing the stumping appeal against England wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow in Lord's Test. Controversy erupted on Day 5 of ENG vs AUS Ashes 2023 2nd Test at Lord's when Bairtstow, after ducking underneath a slow bouncer from Cameron Green, left the crease casually to walk to the middle of the pitch to have a chat with Ben Stokes. It was then that the Aussie wicket-keeper Alex Carey, showing great presence of mind, quickly threw the ball to the stumps, thus appealing to the umpires for a run-out. After a brief review, TV Umpire Marais Erasmus declared Bairstow out. The event triggered angry reactions from England fans at Lord's.
Jonny Bairstow’s controversial dismissal remains one of the most talked about topics from ENG vs AUS Lord's Test. The dismissal has once again triggered ‘the spirit of cricket’ debate with England being at the centre of it.
Meanwhile, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has lauded Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey’s presence of mind. “We must get one fact loud and clear," Ashwin tweeted and added, “The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a test match unless he or his team have noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball like Bairstow did. We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game," he wrote.
England skipper Ben Stokes, whose incredible century innings wasn’t enough to get England through, later said that if it was his team, they would have withdrawn the appeal.
“If the shoe was on the other footI would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked whether they had calledover 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. WouldI want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no," Stokes said on BBC’s Test Match Special.
As per the ICC rule 20.1.2 states: “Theball 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 itas in play”