McCullum hits out at Australia over Bairstow stumping
Brendon McCullum has indicated England could skip post-series beers with Australia, amid the fallout from the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s.
It came as McCullum was accused of hypocrisy in his criticism of Bairstow’s stumping.
It remained the main talking point out of another thrilling Test on Monday, with Australia holding on to claim a 43-run victory and 2-0 series lead.
England was left stunned when Bairstow walked out of his crease after ducking a Cameron Green ball, only for Alex Carey to underarm the ball at the wicket and have him stumped.
The move drew instant condemnation from the Lord’s crowd, with boos and chats of “same old Aussies, always cheating”.
Later, the Australian players were confronted with similar abuse as they walked through the Long Room at Lord’s. They have also claimed some fans tried to trip players.
Usman Khawaja and David Warner stopped to confront members, before being ushered away.
“Some of the stuff that was coming out of the members’ mouths was really disappointing and I wasn’t just going to stand by and cop it,” Khawaja said afterwards.
“I just talked to a few of them, a few of them [were] throwing out some pretty big allegations and I just called them up on it and they kept going.”
The MCC said it had suspended three members as it continued to investigate.
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England captain Ben Stokes claimed after the match he would have withdrawn the appeal had he been in Australia’s shoes, reasoning that Bairstow had thought the ball was dead and it was over.
Australia argues the decision to call Bairstow out lay with the umpires, and Bairstow left his crease before over was called.
England coach McCullum took Stokes’ complaints one step further after play, when describing relations between the two teams.
“I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer with them any time soon,” he told the BBC.
“We have three Tests to land some blows and try to win the Ashes. That is where our focus will be.”
McCullum also indicated he would have ensured England withdrew the appeal, while attacking Australia’s sportsmanship.
“I was lucky enough to play for a long period of time and you learn over a long period that the game and the spirit of the game is so vital to this great game,” he said.
“It’s one thing we’ve got that other sports maybe don’t have, and to uphold that is such an important part of it.
“In the end you’ve got to live with the decisions you make, and that’s life.
“But I feel from our point of view, if we were in the same situation, we might’ve made a different decision.”
McCullum’s comments are likely to raise eyebrows in Australia’s camp, after he twice ran players out through his New Zealand Test career as batsmen were celebrating milestones.
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The Bairstow wicket left England 5-193 in pursuit of 371 for victory, before a counter-attacking 155 from Stokes allowed England to get 327 before they were bowled out in pursuit of 371.
Stuart Broad, who replaced Bairstow at the wicket was caught on a pitch mic telling Carey “that’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in cricket” and “that’s all you’ll be remembered for”.
Australia’s captain Pat Cummins remained adamant there was nothing wrong with Bairstow’s dismissal, and pointed towards similar actions from the English player to roll the ball at stumps after gloving it during the match.
“You see Jonny do it all the time, he did it day one to [David] Warner, he did it in 2019 to Steve [Smith], it’s a really common thing for keepers to do,” Cummins said.
“Caz (Carey) – full credit to him. He saw the opportunity a few balls beforehand and rolled at the stumps. Jonny left his crease and we’ll leave the rest to the umpires.
“We’ve all played a lot of cricket. The spirit of cricket is really important.
“The way we’ve gone about it over the last couple of years has been fantastic. We should be really proud as a group.”
– with AAP