Was Bairstow’s controversial stumping at Lord's in the spirit of cricket? | 7.30 

As an Englishman I watched it in real time and Bairstow had a brain fade. Absolutely no question he is out and it is ridiculous it is even up for discussion.

The only difference between the English cricket team and the Australian cricket team, is the Australian team know how to hit the stumps.

Bairstow is a genius! He predicted that he would be out in three seconds, so he started to walk.

The vast majority of professional cricketers look behind to see if the ball is dead before leaving the crease. Bairstow did not do that in this case. It was never dead as, in one motion, the keeper took it and immediately threw it to hit the stumps and achieve a stumping. He was the only one of the two that stayed awake. There should be no complaints.

Spirit of the Game exhibit A: Bairstow attempted the exact same thing by trying to catch Marnus Labuschagne stepping out of his crease two days ago. Spirit of the Game exhibit B: England coach Brendon McCullum has three instances of identical dismissals.{ Chris Mpofu-2005, Muthiah muralidharan- 2006 , Collingwood-2009} , (He then apologized after 10 years for one player SL.) Spirit of the Game exhibit C: Broad edging a ball to slip but refusing to walk, an edge the English quick has since admitted to. Spirit of the Game exhibit D: England keeper Ben Foakes stumping Irishman Andy Balbirnie after holding onto the ball for a far greater amount of time than what Carey did. Spirit of the Game exhibit E: The MCC long room behaved disgracefully. Not surprisingly three MCC members are now suspended. Spirit of the Game exhibit F: The crowd chanting that Australians are cheaters. Actually the only person convicted of cheating in this series is England's Moeen Ali. Spirit of the Game exhibit G: England bowling 'Body-Line' on day 4, for a record 98% short balls. Also extremely boring to watch - the opposite of so-called "bazball" entertainment. Spirit of the Game exhibit H : England vs New Zealand (2008) Grant Elliott Run out done by England players. while NZ BATTERS taking run single and England Sidebottom collided with him. Suddenly Collingwood took ball run out Elliott. I won't add Duckett not walking Starc's catch, because we respect that rules are rules. I also won't add England's controversial win over New Zealand in the World Cup final involving Stokes himself(when NZ player throwing ball to the stumps his bat intervent got him 6 runs) as there's been no shortage of comments about that.

As an England supporter, this is the only time we'll hear 'intelligent wicket-keeping' and 'Bairstow' in the same conversation. Ironically enough, he's in the side over Foakes for his batting...

I’m a northern working class English bloke, all I can really say is that decency seemed to lose on all sides didn’t it but those particular MCC members showed themselves up to be entitled and hypocritical…. What should have been a safe place (the clubhouse) for the cricketers (or blokes at work) was very far from that and not acceptable…. well done lad on not knocking out some silly arse who thinks because he’s paid money that he can come up to you and scream in your face because things didn’t go his way.

You always see Warner wait till he hears 'over' befor he leaves his crease, now i know why.

Starc was carless with his catch, and Bairstow was careless with not paying attention. You can't use the law book for one and put it away for the other, then dust off the old "spirit of the game" slogan. Especially when Bairstow tried the exact same thing on Marnus in the same game, guaranteed Stokes would not have retracted that appeal had it stumped him.

Im an England supporter and I believe Its perfectly within rules of the game. Spirit of the games doesn't stop opposition to get a players out if he is not following the rules of the game. Spirit of the game should also be followed when England bowlers including Stuart Broad and others keep bowling bouncers to injured Nathan Lyon to get him out, watching England short bowling to Natan Lyon who is injured and no 11 batsman shocked me. Do not cry now, Australia didn't do anything against the law. Plz try to win on the field not in the long room and off the pitch. Supporting Team England.

I love the way Gideon pulls out his Sunday best for national TV.

Considering Barstow was seen doing exactly the same, and it’s well in the rules, there shouldn’t be a question

UK here. I think it's a fair play. It's similar to playing to the whistle in football. The England player didn't get confirmation that the ball was dead, and started walking away. His fault.

I support England team in Ashes, but I think in this particular case, Bairstow did this to himself. He moved out of crease too early, almost as soon as the ball landed on keeper's hand. Even though he marked the line, the keeper did not have to wait to throw the ball. Bairstow should have waited for the keeper to pass the ball to next fielder.

He was out of his crease, did it 3 times instantaneously as the ball passed him, he was out

fairplay...it is NEGLIGENCE on Bairstows part and ATTENTIVENESS on Carey's part !! Simple

I've been stumped in a similar manner, it's out, there's no two ways about it. Quit making excuses for Bairstows negligence.

As a passionate Englishman and cricket supporter who loves the England cricket team. Australia were absolutely in the right to stump Bairstow. Furthermore, I am disgusted with the English crowd booing Australia both inside the pavilion and outside on the ground. The Australian cricket team should be respected and treated with respect at all times. Cricketers should never be threatened by supporters. Hope England beat you at Headingly; however, I want the booing to stop and want to see Australia beaten fairly by England as Australia beat England absolutely fairly at Lords.

Brit here, a strict interpretation of the laws helped with the Cummins "catch" so we do not get to complain when the aussies do the same. It was a wicketkeeper on wicketkeeper incident too, which added a bit of spice!

What's unfair is criticizing a fair dismissal

Bairstow is a "world class wicketkeeper". He knows the rules,along with every other person playing "world class Cricket". The rules of Cricket were made many years ago for good reason. If Bairstow or any other person didnt know or adhere to the rules of Cricket he must learn, one way or the other. This business of changing the rules of Cricket to wash sour taste from ones mouth because they lost any match is a very poor attitude.

Sorry from an Englishmen about the moaning supporters about this dismissal. It's out and shame on the supporters for their behavior, Bairstow should have waited and was out smarted by a good piece of wicketkeeping. Mccullum's stumping on Murali is what you call unsporting.

Boris Becker famously said, “ I lost a match not a war, nobody died”. The crowds and the media need to calm down.

I find it funny that there were complaints when two days earlier Bairstow had tried to do the same thing to Labuschagne but his throw missed the stumps.

Laws of the game are promulgated by the MCC, and this game took place on the MCC's home turf. As Haigh put it -- irony.

"You fail all the time, but you aren’t a failure until you start blaming someone else." -- thank god we've not heard Jonny Bairstow blaming Alex Carey. He will make up for his mistake. On the other hand -- Nasser Hussain brought up a great point in the Sky Coverage -- relentlessness. At this level -- expect relentlessness. To expect a mulligan because a top cricketer lost his mind for a moment and wandered out of his crease -- that may be fine on the golf courses of the members of the MCC -- but not at this level. Relentlessness -- like Flintoff to Ponting, Langer and Hayden -- like McGrath to Atherton, Strauss, and Trescothick -- and like Smith and Bradman to all English bowling. Now add Carey to Bairstow.

McCullum dismissed players in a similar fashion many times but singing spirit of the game chorus yesterday, biggest hypocrite I've ever seen in this sport.

I am an Indian and support what Australia did, they followed the rules as per the book. END of the story! Why England making so much fuss about it and behaving like betrayed! Booze and insults at MCC Lords, the Mecca of Cricket, seriously?

They were very happy with the nit-picking rule when the catch was disallowed, but when the stumping happened suddenly it's 'not in the spirit of the game'. Karma evened things out.

Strange people these English. They invent a game, make the rules, and then spit the Dummy when an opposing team plays by the rules.

The umpires made the decision. The Aussies just made the appeal. If the rule is so unsportsmanlike why is it in the game? 🤷‍♂️

"It's a real privilege ... that Lords arrogates to itself" 🤣🤣 Savage!

The letter of the law speaks for itself. Just as it did when the starc catch was given not out, again the letter of the law. Bairstow kept walking prematurely out of his crease during that entire over and Carey did what all wicketkeepers do in all forms of cricket. If the shoes were on the other foot bairstow would have done the same thing as he himself is a wicketkeeper

Definitely a fair dismissal although as a pommy I would never say that to Carey's face. I think it was also fair to overturn Starc's catch. as two of the best professional cricketers in the world they should have the awareness of the situation. Swings and roundabouts.Also sorry for the small number of MCC members that had a unfair dig.

Interesting, if you watch Carey’s action it is identical in timing and action of Bairstow’s attempted run out in the same game. He threw the ball immediately after catching it and before Bairstow left his crease and was lucky that Bairstow was off with the fairies. He did not wait for Bairstow to leave the crease, which has been implied by many English commentators. Typical of the English cricket faithful and media; they quickly forget their failings (ball tampering included, Atherton and his 2005 English Ashes team were masters of it, the same people calling for Steve Smith’s head when he did the same years later) but cry foul when something similar happens.

Apparently Johnny Bairstow tried to do the same to Australian batters in the same test earlier on.

Theres nothing wrong in what Carey/aussies did thats a part of the game pls dont bring SPIRIT here ...that potato BAIRSTOW was careless as simple as that

The unwritten rule is that the batter taps the bat inside the crease before leaving, Bairstow did not do that.. OUT!

Two decisions in two tests that ended in England losing. Don't blame the Ausies

As an Englishman, I would say it WAS unfortunate, for Bairstow, but completely legitimate. I am disappointed with Bairstow for his lapse of concentration. And I am disgusted with the MCC Snobs after the game. But to be honest, I have always thought of the MCC as a bunch of over privileged snobs. They just prove the elitism still exists in English cricket, the elitism that hijacked the game all those years ago. Fair play to Australia. I just hope we can win the next two tests to level the series, so we can have a nail biter of a final test. It's possible, but a big ask. The pressure is on US!

I’m an Englishman and I have no problem with the stumping! It’s the ashes ffs. Win at all costs. I wish we did it first

There's no pause in Carey's action. Soon after he collected the ball throw to the stamps. Nothing is wrong with Aussie.

im south african, so no skin in the game and we hate ausies more lol... but ask yourself if that ball went to the wiki keeper and the keeper missed the ball, would they have gone for an extra run or 2, not to mention giving them 4 runs if it went to the boundary? you know they would have taken those runs.. don't tell me the ball is dead. that walk off the crease was like 1 second after leaving the bowlers hand lol

Interestingly, Bairstow lost his wicket due to his carelessness. Had the wicket-keeper misfielded after that both players would have taken a run, undoubtedly.

Ben stokes doesn’t want to win a game that way yet he will happily claim a World Cup on the worst count back ever made up. Can’t cherry pick when you want to play by the rules and when you don’t

Intelligence, Fair and with rules 😂 work done by Aussies 😊😊

Anyone who leaves his crease while the ball is still in play deserves to be out

Ask yourself one thing. If Carey's throw had missed the stumps and went down to long on, do you think Bairstow would have set off for a run or not?

Let's not forget thatf Bairstow on day 1 to Warner and day 3 to Marnus attempted the same stumping / run out as Carey, but with infinitely less coordination or success. Or is it that the English believe it is not possible to be run out or stumped off the last ball of the over? Was Bairstow playing outside the spirit of the game, or is that honour exclusive to the Australians?

Bairstow left his crease because he thought he saw a donut on the pitch.

Greetings from Australia - where no-one is having a tantrum over the Starc disallowed catch.

No one talks about how England won 2019 world cup. Same Stroke at the same ground, he took undeserved 4 runs.

Is not walking in the spirit of cricket? Sledging? Appealing for everything? Bouncers at tail enders? Underarm bowling? England players back in the day rotating their fielders with subs to give them extra rest and massages? So on and so on.

I think that bastmen get too many advantages anyway over bowlers, staying in your crease isn't too much to ask

Brendon McCullum, who is now loudly criticising Australia’s impudence, ran out Zimbabwe’s Chris Mpofu when Mpofu, thinking the ball was dead, went down the pitch to congratulate Blessing Mahwire on his reaching a half century. Brendon McCullum, who is currently smugly criticising Australia’s shamelessness, ran out Muttiah Muralitharan when Muralitharan, thinking the ball was dead or just, in his excitement, unthinkingly, went down the pitch to congratulate Kumar Sangakkara after he scored a century.

Seeing it on replay, the batsman obviously assumed that it was the end of the over, the ball bounced well clear of the stumps, and he casually walked up the pitch. I would have let it go as 'not out'. The Starc incident seemed to be a clear catch.

If that's against the spirit of cricket, then England's 5 runs in the final, Murali's runout by McCullum, and De Grandhomme run out should be deemed as cheating.

The player should have been warned first then if he continues run him out. Not good from Australia. You can tell Australia haven't won a series in the UK since 2001. The scenes after in the long room were a disgrace.

If the ball had missed the stumps and rolled to the boundary for four, I’d assume that the whinging Poms would’ve gladly taken the runs

This happened to me once, about 20 years ago. I was batting against Berkeley in Gloucestershire against a fast bowler, left a ball outside off, walked down the pitch to prod the ground, and the 18 year old keeper stumped me! We were all extremely pissed off, especially as it was only a friendly fixture. I was also the keeper for my team, and when Berkeley batted I got my own back. When their keeper batted, he missed one outside off, and I appealed successfully, and gave him an exceedingly sarcastic send-off.

7:50 It is totally not true that Aussies "didn't have any consternation about the Starc catch". On the field Starc was verbally going after Ben Duckket for that and video clips of that can be found with a simple search.

I'm English, and as far as I'm concerned, there was nothing whatsoever wrong with Bairstow's dismissal. It certainly wasn't the first time he wandered out of his crease and he attempted the exact same move against Labuschagne in Australia's first innings. Although, as usual, he was sh*t at it. Claiming that it was somehow 'unsporting,' or against 'the spirit' of cricket, is effectively saying that Bairstow should be above the laws of the game, or that Australia should allow him to stay in and score more runs when he is legitimately out. Also, any cricketer who has ever failed to walk when they know they edged should never utter the words, 'the spirit of cricket!'

All Bairstow - or any batsman - has to do, is wait to hear the umpire call "over". It's that simple.

The hysterical overreaction indicates something deeper to me. To the english it seems unjust because it was a humiliating and presumptious. How dare the Australians not withdraw the appeal, we would have! Give me a break. Bairstow tried it himself earlier in the match and their indignant coach famously did it on several occassions. The hypocrasy is palpable and the bahaviour in the long room was neausating. It part of a larger ugly side of modern post brexit england. The entitlement and imperious attitude that so charterised the johnson years. The rules are for you, not us.

How funny would it be if Carey does it again next test 😂

If we don't abide by the rules & by-laws of the game & only focus on "the spirit of the game" then why bother having any rules at all? It will be like watching a bunch of kids play, bickering over every ball. No. The English fans & players need to have a good hard look at their hypocritical motives & disgusting behaviour. I am absolutely appalled to see that sort hooliganism happening in the game I love. They need to stop letting Soccer fans into the Cricket venues.

when the throw miraculously hits the runner's conveniently extended bat and magically lands on 4, leading to your team winning the World Cup, it's all completely within the rules

To be fair, most English commentators agreed that was out. So barring a few idiots, no one is complaining.

McCallum did this to Murali, Bairstow tried it on Marnus in the first innings of this same game. Starc's decision was determined by the rule book and there were no English players standing up for fair play in that instance. All this is to divert attention away from the English Bazball strategy which delivered a lot of poor decisions on field. Lets hope the media doesn't turn this into a call to create chaos with someone getting hurt in the remaining games. MCC writes the rules for this game but cant abide by them when applied. If they dont like the laws then remove them.

It all comes down to Aussies being used as cannon fodder in Gallipoli, we're still pissed.

Game of cricket always had incidents which were controversial but we ignore them and move on but when I saw johnny Bairstow stumping that was a pure presence of mind from the keeper Bairstow being an international player should know that unless the umpire says its over the crease belongs to the wicket keeper so it was a fair decision tell me one thing if it was Bairstow behind wickets he would have done the same thing and claimed a stumping so please don't give this excuse that IN THE SPIRT OF THE GAME for me it was the turning point Bairstow is one of the dangerous player in the world who can take away the game so Aussies enjoyed another Win England focus on the 3rd test and move on .

Since when has STUMPING been not a rule in cricket?

Interestingly, English Coach Mccuium's team NZ, tried the same against Paul Collingwood a few years back. Why Australia should not do the same is beyond logic.

Lets get this right here ,Bairstow is a wicket keeper so if anyone should know the rules situation he should end off. He went walk about and for the record i follow Sussex CCC absolutely no issues from me about this fair and square out.

Isn't this the same Marylebone Cricket Club that in 1932 told the Australian Cricket Board that bodyline bowling wasn't such a big deal, and the Australian team should stop being such drama queens?

Perhapes Bairstow should put his hand up and take responsibility for having a brain fade. Carey did nothing wrong. He gathered the ball from the delivery and threw it at the stumps in the same action.

Funny how Bairstow tried doing it to the Aussies a couple of days earlier but that was ok, sorry but can’t have it both ways

This guy couldn't be more sanctimonious in his assessment of England's sanctimony

"Hats and stripey ties" killed me 😂

I am an England fan. Not sure why there was a controversy for either of the incidents in this test. Bairstow wandered out of his crease and was out. He was negligent and naïve. Could have Australia maybe withdrawn their appeal and just used it as a warning for bairstow? Yes that was an option that maybe some others would have taken, but I don’t blame them for not doing that in much the same way I don’t blame a batsman for not walking. The other incident, well…Starc just rubbed the ball along the ground whilst he was still moving and in process of taking the catch. Not out. Simples.

Bairstow was clearly careless as it is normal practice to turn and look at where the ball had gone and to ground the bat until time had exceeded the chance of being stumped, as a wicket keeper he knows his obligations.

I am not a Aussie, neither a English fan, but the run out is fair and well defined in the cricket law book. Stop crying, no one is dead, it is just a cricket game. Cowboy's don't cry.

I am already sick of this conversation, so here I go again. The 'spirit of cricket' is truly a nonsense. Rules are rules, and if you follow and respect the rules as a player, that should be the end of it.

Looks out. There used to be a rule that if a batsman is not attempting to run, he can’t be run out. But this was a stumping. What’s the fuss about? He’s out of his crease, bails are off… clean out. Just because he’s enlish he can’t go all colonial.

MCullum did same things against England and Zimbabwe and now he is speaking about spirit of cricket 😊

I'm ashamed at the vitriol being poured over the Australian team for a completely fair dismissal.

The reason Carey did what he did was because Bairstow did it to Labuschagne prior. Bairstow missed, Carey didn't. End of story.

There was no oppotunism there. The keeper threw it spontaneously. Don't try to twist it as if it was malafide.

Saw it for the first time.Bairstow was never trying to take a run,to get any sort of advantage,he lingered a bit in his crease and only then started walking forward.NOT cricket.

OMG these people wear jackets? I am so offended.

Favourite bit of the video is Labuschagne not knowing where the Umpire is and appealing in a full 360! :'D Love that man!

The MCC members really let their side down. MCC wrote the laws and the members need to understand they apply to all.

Well, as one who knows little about cricket, I watched comments by the respective team Captains. I think the Captain with the most credibility (to an uninformed pleb like me) was the one who did NOT have arms which look like a kindergarten child’s scribbling book.

I was a school boy when Pakistan visited England under Bari’s captaincy. The rules said no tail ender would be subjected to short pitch bowling. Bob Willis started a barrage of bouncers to Iqbal Qasim, a rank tail ender, until he broke his jaw. Whole England supported Willis and Brearley because “Iqbal Qasim was a night watchman who was batting in place of a regular batsman.” How shameful and foolish…. And they had the audacity to get the rule changed by the MCC, to soothe their conscience, for retrospective application… I have never believed in the fairness of English cricket ever since! And, today, they invoke spirit of cricket in a very fair and legitimate dismissal…moaners!

Long-time cricket fan and writer/editor here. The "spirit of cricket" has always been a noble lie. Think about it: when did it actually enter the game? It wasn't there at its inception when Spofforth was punching Poms on the proboscis and Grace was steadfastly staying at the wicket even after being given out. In the 1930s this elusive "spirit" of unknown provenance was being invoked by the Aussie press as Larwood tactically tore the Aussies apart at Jardine's request. For a while, bowling bumpers at tail-enders was frowned upon because it violated the fabulous spirit of the game, but this "unspoken law" was soon dispensed with if that tail-ender was presumptuous enough to flout that "spirit" and score a run too many. Once, Lindwall knocked a man out with a bouncer because he insultingly took block outside of his crease. Trueman was hardly a paragon of puritanical rectitude and was proud of it. "Mad" Jack Flavell didn't protest his sobriquet. He wanted to destroy every man be bowled at. Let's test the spirit. What exactly has been the greatest threat to it - just so we know its location? What was the boundary situation? Was it the abovementioned Bodyline series? What Jardine did was within the rules. It was mainly the Aussie press who demonised and denounced him and Larwood, using the "spirit of the game" as their high horse. Was it Vinoo Mankad in 1947-48, who noticed non-striker Bill Brown backing up too far? Instead of releasing the ball, he stopped and broke the wicket. He’d sufficiently warned Bill, having already dismissed him likewise in a tour game, yet the huffing press almost labelled it impertinence, ensuring his name entered cricket’s lexicon as a byword for dishonesty. But do you know why Mankad was so "impertinent"? Because he was sick of his own countrymen deferring to the Aussies and the English. Those who dusted off the "spirit of cricket" back then actually had their pens at the ready to criticise ANY bowling from those funny little Subcontinental people that amounted to more than a mere tribute offering. Was India's decades-old doctoring of pitches a violation of this "spirit"? What about the West Indies' real and implied threats of on-field, and sometimes off-field, violence to batsmen all over the Commonwealth when they were at their zenith? It seems that this "spirit" includes acceptable cheating. Adam Gilchrist was actually criticised by many of these same upholders of cricket's "spirit" when he decided he WOULD walk, despite being the only man on the field to know he'd nicked it. A batsman was actually somehow acting within the bounds of this amorphous thing called cricket's spirit when he never admitted he was out. It's rather indefinable really, isn't it, old chaps, this "spirit"? Honestly, Piers and Geoffrey and the Lord's members look and sound like dribbling, drivelling privileged Pommy prats when they long for a fantasy bygone era and talk about tarnishing a game that was never exempt from human nature, and ceased being some kind of pastoral idyll the moment men like Spofforth and Grace entered the scene, bringing spectators with them.

Was the Poms shitfull bowling in the spirit of the game .

As a wicketkeeper myself, I've always wanted to stump out batsmen who take their stance too far out of the crease to negate the swing. Carey took it one step further to stump out a batsman for wandering. It's out because he did it in one motion without pausing. It would have been questionable had he paused and waited for Bairstow to leave the crease

Bairstow did the very same thing to kiwi Colin de Grandhomme last year and eng coach McCullum did the same to english player Paul Collingwood

It was perfectly ok. As a stumper for may years I always were aware of the batter being out of his crease. Were ever there's conflict on the field there's Bairstow. You should always make sure your back in your crease, it is taught to every child when learning the game..... Grow up and except your stupid mistake Bairstow you cost us the game.

By now, you would have thought England would know how to lose gracefully and at least with some dignity. Such a display of bad sportsmanship by the English is utterly disgraceful and sets a terrible example to youngsters. They must expel and fine any member that took part in this disgusting display and make an example of them - anything less will fundamentally undermine the future of the MCC.