Australia registered a 43-run win over England in the second Test match of the Ashes series to go 2-0 up in the five-match series. Both their wins have been thrilling affairs. However, their second Test match victory which came at the iconic Lord's Stadium in London was marred with controversy especially with the manner in which claimed the wicket of England's Jonny Bairstow.
It all happened in the 52nd over of Day 5 when Bairstow was caught wandering outside of his crease, with the ball still in play, after ducking out of the way of a Cameon Green bouncer. However, the Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey saw it as an opportunity to stump the batter and threw the ball on to the stumps. Australia appealed and Bairstow had to take the long walk back to the pavilion.
The dismissal has divided the cricketing world with many including Australian captain Pat Cummins suggesting that the Bairtsow wicket was well within the laws of the game, others have deemed it against the "spirit of the game." And now one of England's crikcet legend has lashed out at the Aussies for their gesture even demanding a public apology from Cummins & Co. The former England cricketer happens to be none other than Geoffrey Boycott.
"If you want to win at all costs then cricket should not be for you. We want people to play hard and fair but surely there are standards to uphold? When batsmen are not trying to take an advantage then you should not follow the letter of the law. Apply some common sense. If a batsman is trying to pinch some ground, as in a Mankad situation, then that is different. But Jonny was not trying to steal a run," Boycott wrote in a column for Telegraph.co.uk.
"Australia need to have a think about what they did and make a full public apology. That way it will redress the situation and everyone can move on. These teams have played brilliant cricket in great spirit and it is a shame when something like that happens to spoil it all," he added.
"Australia have now had time to think about what happened. We all make mistakes in the heat of the moment. People will think better of the Australians if they put their hands up and say “we got it wrong”. That is the way to go. Let's see over the next few days if they are man enough to do that," he further said.
However, as former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin pointed out Carey would have never thrown the ball at the stumps had he not obserbved a pattern of the batter leaving his crease early, something which was also admitted by Australian captain Cummins in his post-match comments.