Both England's Ben Stokes and Australia's Pat Cummins were eager to put the second Ashes Test stumping incident behind them on Sunday. The incident prompted prolonged and vociferous jeers from the Lord's crowd.
When Jonny Bairstow left his crease at the end of an over with England on 193-5 and chasing a massive score of 371, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey successfully stumped him. The question of whether the dismissal was legal, and secondly, if it was in the spirit of the game sparked the debate. The booing by the crowd and disrespect shown by MCC members in the usually quiet Lord's Long Room added to the chatter.
Might be an option to turn to: Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins, the Australian skipper, was defiant and came in support of his players’ decisions. He also cited incidents where the England players have done the same thing and it wasn’t such a big hype.
He said, “I thought it was fair. You see Jonny (Bairstow) does it all the time, he did it on day one to David Warner, he did it in 2019 to Steve (Smith). “It’s a really common thing for keepers to do if they see a batter keep leaving their crease. Cares (Carey), full credit to him, he saw the opportunity, rolled it at the stumps, Jonny left his crease. You leave the rest to the umpires. It was all one motion, there was no pause or sneakiness about it. It was ‘catch, throw’ straightaway.”
Another question that was thrown at Pat Cummins was whether they would try and use Mankading and under-arm bowling as an option. The Australian skipper said that it “depends on how flat the wickets get, might be an option to turn to (smiles).”
Australian players were verbally attacked by irate MCC members as they passed through the pavilion during the lunch break. Australian skipper Pat Cummins claimed he had accepted the MCC's apology. He said, “They were quite aggressive and abusive towards some of our players, which I know the MCC weren’t too happy with. The MCC came and apologised for the behaviour of some of the members.”
Fans react to Pat Cummins' hilarious response to the journalist following the second Ashes 2023 Test: -
Question - are we going to see under arm bowling and Mankad from Australia in this series?
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 3, 2023
Pat Cummins - depends on how flat the wickets get, might be an option to turn to (smiles). pic.twitter.com/re28UTsnpj
Three more flat pitches in this series and Anderson will be done with test cricket.
— Gollgappaaa (@gollgappaaa) July 3, 2023
Pat Cummins is becoming a PC phenomenon day by day which is quite enjoyable 🔥
— Salfee (@Salfee12) July 3, 2023
I think only one man can score on this road's it's my zimbu goat 🐐
— GOAT MAHI (@MSDADDICTED) July 3, 2023
Huge respect to Pat Cummins...
— Sendor (@a_aytid6969) July 3, 2023
that mark on eyes💀
— rishiism (@rishiism_) July 3, 2023
Bodied Bazball success on flat pitches 🤣🤣🤣🤣
— Lord Voldemort (@Smart_Ladka) July 3, 2023
In Pat's mind: It depends. If we tends to loose we will do and we will go at any extent of poor sportsmanship
— Stay home stay safe (@being_good_2all) July 3, 2023
Such a nice guy he is
— Take My Note (@Cricpoints1) July 3, 2023
Imagine virat kohli at his postion,he would have bashed them hardly
If it is in the laws then shouldn't be illegal
— Ritesh (@Kraezy2) July 3, 2023
And spirit of the game excuse is only used by the team which portrays themselves as victims
no pakistani player got hurt from this😂
— Amrit (@Amrit010203) July 3, 2023
The question is more savage than answer 😀
— Gaurav Daga (@Gauravdaga29) July 3, 2023
bodied those spirit of the game merchants
— himanshu (@himanshuuu_1) July 3, 2023