The ongoing Ashes series has been thrown into the midst of a heated debate following the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow during the second Test at Lord's
According to Travis Head, Australia's batsman, Jonny Bairstow made an attempt to dismiss him using a method resembling the controversial stumping incident that unfolded on the fifth day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's.
Bairstow's dismissal occurred when England were five wickets down and required 178 more runs to win. Bairstow ducked under a short ball from Cameron Green, marked his crease with his boot, and proceeded down the pitch towards his partner, Ben Stokes, at the non-striker's end. Before Bairstow had fully left his ground, wicketkeeper Alex Carey collected the ball on the bounce and swiftly threw it under-arm at the stumps at the striker's end.
The on-field umpires referred the decision to TV umpire Marais Erasmus, who ruled Bairstow out, and the dismissal was recorded as stumped. As Bairstow walked off the field, he exchanged glances with the Australian team and the crowd at Lord's erupted in boos. Throughout the match, the crowd, which had been relatively quiet during the first four days, repeatedly chanted, "Same old Aussies, always cheating." During the lunch break, as the Australian players walked through the long room, some MCC members directed boos and insults at them.
During an interview, Travis Head disclosed that he had narrowly avoided a similar dismissal at Bairstow's hands during the first Test at Edgbaston.
"I sort of reminded Jonny last week I walked out of my crease at Edgbaston, at the end of the over," Head said of the conversation he had with Bairstow after the Lord's flashpoint. "And the ball got whipped in, and I quickly whipped my bat back and questioned Jonny: would you take the stumps? And he said, 'Bloody oath I would,' and ran off.
"So in the moment, in the heat of the battle, things come out and things have played out. I know they have questioned it differently if they were in the same situation, but with all the heat out there, doing it a couple of hours later and saying that is a little bit different than in the moment. We'll never know that, we move on, and at the end of the day to the letter of the law it was out. That's their opinion and we've got ours."
After securing a 43-run victory in the Lord's Test and taking a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series, the controversy surrounding Bairstow's dismissal has continued to escalate as the teams prepare for the next match at Headingley on Thursday.
While Australia's captain, Pat Cummins, defended his decision to appeal for the wicket, his counterpart from England, Ben Stokes, expressed that he wouldn't want to win in such a manner. England's coach, Brendon McCullum, stated that the incident would rally England and create a stronger sense of unity for the remainder of the series.
The involvement of the respective Prime Ministers, Rishi Sunak and Anthony Albanese, has further intensified the situation, with both leaders taking sides in support of their respective teams. As a result, it appears unlikely that the teams will be sharing a friendly drink anytime soon.