Australia's Travis Head has now made another sensational revealation in the aftermath of the Jonny Bairstow stumping controversy. Head revealed that the England wicketkeeper-batter had actually threatened to run him out in the first Test match of the Ashes 2023 series at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. Notably, Bairstow was stumped by Alex Carey on Day 5 of the second Test match at Lord's when the batter casually walked out of his crease after ducking a bouncer from Cameron Green, failing to notice that the ball was still in play.
The third umpire gave it out and later ex-ICC umpire Simon Taufel also explained that the correct decision had been made. However, England felt wronged with Stuart Broad telling Carey that he will be forever remembered for the way in which he got Bairstow out. The veteran seamer also made gestures to take a dig at the umpires.
The entire incident has divided the cricketing world with some suggesting Carey's action was justified as it was well within the laws of the game, others reckon that the action was against the spirit of the game. However, Head's latest revelation suggests that Bairstow had told him that he would affect a similar run out, had the Aussie not got back in time in the series opener.
"Jonny Bairstow was stumped. And I sort of reminded Jonny last week I walked out of my crease at the end of an over. I quickly whipped my bat back and questioned Jonny on whether he would take the stumps and he said, ‘Bloody oath I would’, and ran off," Head said on LiSTNR’s Willow Talk podcast.
"We’d seen (Bairstow) try to do it and I’ve seen it happen a few times," he said.
"If you put on the England hat, they’re disappointed. But the Australia (side), to the letter of the law, which was explained with Mitchell Starc’s catch the day before that it would be out," Head said.
"I know they’ve questioned it differently if they were in the same situation but with all the heat out of the air, saying that is a little bit different than in the moment," the 29-year-old added.