16 July 2023 , 11:56
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Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey has insisted he has no regrets about stumping Jonny Bairstow and has warned the England star he will do it again if he gets the chance.
Carey set the series alight when he threw down the stumps to dismiss Bairstow in contentious circumstances in the second Test at Lord’s. Bairstow walked out of his crease, believing the ball to be dead at the end of the over, but Aussie skipper Pat Cummins decided not to withdraw his appeal and the wicket stood.
England have suggested that the dismissal was not in the spirit of cricket, while Australia were booed by the Lord’s crowd and abused by a few members of the MCC inside the pavilion. Carey does not understand the fierce reaction and would happily do something similar in the fourth Test, which starts at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
“If there was an opportunity to get a stumping, yeah I would,” Carey said when asked if he would repeat the stumping. “There's been some nasty stuff said, but it is the Ashes. There was nasty stuff said before that as well.
“I feel really well supported, I think the whole group does. From Australia, I still think we've got lots of fans and from England I don't think we've made any, but we probably didn't lose any either.”
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Explaining the Bairstow dismissal from his point of view, Carey added: “We were switched on to the fact that it was a bouncer plan and it felt like Jonny was pretty switched on to getting out of the way, he wasn't playing any shots.
“When he ducked obviously his first movement was pretty much out of his crease so instinctively I grabbed the ball, threw the stumps down and the rest is history.
Alex Carey has spoken about his dismissal of Jonny Bairstow (Ashley Allen/Getty Images)“He's a fantastic player and a big wicket in that match with Ben [Stokes]. Once the bail's come off, it's up to the third umpire to deem it out or not out, or the on-field umpires as well and it was given out."
The Bairstow dismissal sparked a wide-ranging debate which drew in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. Unsurprisingly, Sunak took England’s side, insisting the wicket wasn’t in the spirit of cricket, while a meeting between the two at a Nato conference inspired some banter on the subject.
The two Prime Ministers posed for a photo, with Sunak holding a photo of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes celebrating the winning moment at Headingley in the third Test, while Albanese clutched a piece of paper showing the 2-1 scoreline in the visitors’ favour.
Albanese then said he’d be “really provocative” and whipped out a photo showing Bairstow being run out by Carey. Sunak responded with “I’m sorry I didn’t bring my sandpaper with me!” to awkward laughter in the room.