Australia's controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow, a breakdown
What Happened
During an intense Ashes Test match between Australia and England, a controversial stumping of England's Jonny Bairstow sparks a heated debate about the spirit of the game. In the middle of a lengthy bouncer barrage from Australia's bowlers, Bairstow is standing at the crease, momentarily distracted as he fixes the divots in the pitch. With Bairstow's attention diverted, Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey quickly gathers the ball and removes the bails, stumping Bairstow. Bairstow is stunned, initially unsure of what has happened, as his teammates and the Australian players celebrate the dismissal. The dismissal causes an uproar, with many questioning whether it was within the spirit of the game. England coach Brendon "Baz" McCullum argues that Australian captain Pat Cummins had an opportunity to reverse the decision, as he has done in the past when similar incidents have occurred. McCullum cites examples from his own coaching career, where he has instructed his players to withdraw appeals in similar circumstances. The debate delves into the nuances of the laws of cricket versus the unwritten "spirit of the game." Some argue that Bairstow was not gaining an unfair advantage by briefly turning his attention away from the ball, while others contend that he was not vigilant enough in watching the play. The contrasting perspectives reflect the ongoing tension between strict application of the rules and a more lenient, sportsmanship-driven approach. As the teams walk through the members' area, the tensions boil over, with some spectators exchanging words with the players. The incident highlights the passion and emotion that the Ashes rivalry can evoke, as both sides feel strongly about their interpretations of fair play and the essence of the game. Ultimately, the controversial dismissal leaves a lasting impact, sparking a wider discussion about the balance between the letter of the law and the spirit of cricket. The debate continues, as both teams and their supporters grapple with the complex and nuanced issues surrounding this game-changing moment in the Ashes series.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentGreen is bowling to Johnny Bairstow, and the ball's a bouncer right over him.
Bouncers all day.
He marks his ground.
He leaves.
He wanders off.
Doesn't watch anything.
Fixes the dirt.
The little divot smooths it out.
No, you know, nothing's going to go awry.
Another one over his head.
Doesn't even look at anyone.
Marks his ground.
That's important.
Walks.
Fixes the divots.
Comes back.
The Ashes gave us great drama on this ball, the third one,
because on this one, something different happens.
He goes to fix and talk, and he's like, wait, what?
What?
Even the umpire's like, what?
They're celebrating.
He's just standing in the middle of them celebrating like,
what are you guys going on about?
Huh?
No, I don't think so.
Huh?
Well, I look like a giant fool.
His teammates are like, oh, boy, Johnny looks like a giant fool.
He's like, what happened here?
Well, the ball went over.
Keeper.
Kerry just takes it, tosses it.
At the stump.
Celebrates early because he knows he's got his man because he knew he was
just walking around without paying attention to anything.
Now, this caused a ton of controversy, like a ton of controversy,
and as someone that's kind of new to cricket,
I was really excited to get into the weeds on this, on the history,
and look at them.
They're not upset.
They're high-fiving.
Everyone's high-fiving.
Same as baseball.
The bowlers, the pitchers are tall, and they're kind of shorter.
Now, Head's going to go up to him, to Stokes, and be like, hey,
let me tell you.
No, actually, like, he tried to do that to me last match,
and I had to jump back.
And then I asked him, I said, would you really take my stumps?
And he said, on oath, I would.
And you could hear Cummins, the captain, say,
he threw it straight away, mate.
And then Kawaja says, you did the exact same thing on day one, the Warner.
So they're trying to say, hey, you did this to us.
We're doing it to you.
They go to review it, out.
Now, we're going to get into all the controversy and everything England is
saying about why this sucks and isn't good.
But first, we've got to move on to,
what happens next, because bowler for England, Stuart Broad, comes in.
He knows he's on the mic, and he's giving everyone a little entertainment.
So you're ever going to be remembered for that?
So you'll ever be remembered for it?
Yeah.
Yeah, he said yes.
Terry's like, yeah, I know.
Did you see all the high fives I just got from my teammates?
It was, like, a really smart, brilliant move by me.
Of course, that's all I'm going to be remembered for.
It's awesome.
Literally the worst thing I've ever seen in cricket, that.
Worst thing he's ever seen in cricket, that.
And then he went on to kind of troll them.
But he's more.
Trolling himself, I think, by just never leaving his crease
without making sure the ball isn't dead,
which I think is what he's doing here,
is he's acting out what he wishes his teammate would have done.
Am I good?
Is it dead?
No?
Okay.
And then he thinks he's talking shit here,
but Warner hears what he says and just kind of doubles over in laughter.
Like, what, mate?
What?
All right.
Oh, that was good.
See ya.
Then the players are walking through the long room.
This is a tradition.
You got to walk through all the members and the club members.
And that guy, oh, that guy went for a high five on Steve Smith.
Did you see that?
In the hat, he goes, hey, high five, mate.
And then Steve Smith's like, oh, okay, cool.
I'll give you a high five.
He's like, nah, no way, dude.
No way.
And then they start talking, I guess, real shit.
And they said some stuff out of line.
And it was like the nicest guy in cricket.
And he stops and he says, would you call me?
I wouldn't say that.
And three members got suspended.
They're not around anymore.
The president of the club, he's embarrassed.
These three old guys, they're embarrassed.
What's going on?
Letter of the law, spirit of the game.
Sometimes two different things.
This is the whole debate.
They got the letter of the law and the spirit of the game.
So for baseball fans, you have the rules and the unwritten rules.
We have the same thing.
They take it a little farther than we do.
But spirit of the game, letter of the law.
What way did you see that Bairstow dismissal yesterday?
Well, I think it was a real opportunity for Pat Cummins to, you know,
perhaps reverse his decision.
You know, I think he missed an opportunity there in many ways.
So if you're like, what do you mean reverse his decision?
This doesn't happen in baseball.
I don't think I've ever seen this.
I don't even know if it's allowed in cricket.
If the umpire calls him out, you can be like, nah, I don't think we earned that.
That's not right.
He's not out.
He's out.
He's not out.
We got it.
We're good.
We're good.
We're good.
Thank you.
But we're good.
One example of this happening actually involves now coach of England,
Bass, who throws the ball there at the wickets and gets the runner.
The runner got hit in the head with the ball.
And then kind of just like walked away to gather himself and the over was
over and boom.
Oh, oh, uh, that didn't feel good.
And then, oh, how's that feel?
You're out.
I'm the coach of England.
And I just did that to you, but the umpires ruled it out.
But his captain was like, nah, man, nah, that's, that's not cool.
I don't like that umpires.
You're doing your job.
We applaud you for getting right, but you're out.
So this guy is saying that Australia should have done that.
No staying on the current coach.
Cause he's actually got two more examples of doing this.
The very thing that he's upset that Australia did.
This is the most famous one.
Dude hits for a big milestone.
His partner touches the crease safely, turns around to celebrate with them.
Oh, nope.
You're out.
Don't do that.
You can even see the umpire motioning watches.
So he touches the crease.
Then he goes to celebrate with his teammates.
Watch the umpire.
Like, dude, dude, get over, get over, get over.
Ah, damn.
I just got to call the rule.
The rule you're out.
And, uh, he does.
The manager of England did say he, he,
he has gone on to regret this.
And that's why he's trying to say that Australia will regret this as they get
older as well, because it's not in the spirit of the game.
He also has another one where it's the same situation.
The guy touches his crease and then he turns around to run and celebrate with
his teammate thinking the play has ended.
And Baz is like, nah, play's not over.
You're out.
And that's his teammates reacting to him getting out.
Oh, they're not all up in arms and upset.
They're laughing at the silliness of getting run out in that way.
And the lack of attention, but yeah,
he took his stumps and he was just going to celebrate.
So a little bit of history there.
All right, let's go to another reason why England thinks this was not cool.
But I just think looking at this dismissal, um, Johnny's not really
gaining an added advantage.
You know, there was an illusion to, to Johnny doing it, you know, in the
innings previous to Warner and to minus lab of shame, but those two batsmen
were standing out of their crease.
And there's a difference.
I think people need to understand that they're, they're gaining
an added advantage.
Oh, so you gotta be gaining an advantage to be getting out, which is foreign to
us baseball fans because the hidden ball trick is awesome.
And a guy will get out for just lifting his foot slightly off the base,
not gaining an advantage at all.
And this is what they're referencing that Barso did try to do it to
Marnus and right there, but I don't know what this guy's talking about.
Cause Marnus wasn't out of his crease.
He was on his front foot, but he wasn't really stepped forward.
He's he doesn't have to run back or scamper back.
The other thing, big difference is he.
Follows the ball, watch his head, turn, follow the ball, follow the ball, not out.
So yeah, Barso did try to do it to Marnus there, but that guy's wrong
about being out of the crease thing.
We do have a good example of a wicket that was taken off of a batsman who was
not trying to gain an advantage at all.
And it's pretty interesting to listen to the English commentators.
Talk about this one.
Oh, hello.
Hello.
Well, his foot's in the air, isn't it?
Yeah, I think he's gone.
I think he's got, it's incredibly slack.
It really is.
It's very, very.
Smart from Johnny best.
You can see Johnny best as keeping in an eye.
Well, there he goes.
Brilliant work by Johnny besto, a wicked out of absolutely nothing there.
And summit Patel will trudge off with the weight of the world upon his shoulders,
as though it's all a terrible conspiracy.
But in fact, it's an absolutely lousy bit of cricket by him.
Just listing is lifting his foot and best.
Oh, does the rest.
Yeah, very, very slack on the part of summit Patel to it'll take him a while to
get off the ground, but he has no one else to blame, but himself.
A lot of credit to Johnny best though, for realizing the moment.
A lot of credit to Johnny Bairstow for realizing the moment, uh, even though
the runner wasn't trying to take an advantage, he was just simply shifting
his weight, great job by Johnny.
Now, if that does nothing for you and you're saying they're way different
circumstances, like Piers Morgan said to me on Twitter and told me, I'm not
allowed to talk about this at all because I'm American, which I'm sorry.
I'm talking about it.
This is the final reason why the English are saying it's unfair.
You know, he's it's the end of the.
Over.
He's walking down the wicket.
It's the end of the over that didn't matter when, uh, it was Colin Wooden.
It was the end of the over here and Baz did it, but you know, so it's been done.
The coach of England has done it now.
They did, uh, take that one back.
Like I said, he's in his crease.
Um, he makes his, uh, his, he marks his guard and it's almost like an
acceptance that perhaps the over is done.
So because of that foot move, that's him saying, uh, I'm not trying to go anywhere.
I'm marking my crease.
The over is over.
The only real weird part is he doesn't get to.
Decide if the over is over the umpires do.
And then the other thing is.
This would be a great case.
If Kerry, the keeper saw him do this and then still threw it at the stump, saw him
do this, declare I'm not going anywhere and then threw it at the stumps, but that's not
what happened.
Here's all five angles synced up, which is pretty confusing and fun to watch, but Kerry
grabs the ball and then quickly turns and throws it all in one motion and he is scratching his.
Crease, right?
Let's see.
It's all the same.
So the ball is out and he is just starting his little scratch.
So Kerry threw it before then.
So even if the umpires were paying attention, they wouldn't have called over because the ball had never
stopped its motion.
Kerry didn't do the normal rhythm of throwing it to slip and then they throw it around.
He went straight at the stumps.
The umpires would have said, nah, all Bairstow had to do is not be a big dummy.
Yeah.
I don't know.
And I think some Australian fans are saying like, eh, yeah, it's not great.
You know, like it's not competitive, but fuck off, pay attention.
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