British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accused Australia of not playing in the spirit of cricket, adding to the national pile-on over Alex Carey’s controversial stumping of England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
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Australia are bracing for harsh treatment from crowds at Headingley this week, after their dramatic 43-run win at Lord’s gave them a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series.
The win featured an ill-tempered display from MCC members in the Long Room and heated words from England after the match, and on Monday the English press laid the boot into Australia with several references to the word “cheat” on front and back pages.
But it was comments attributed to Mr Sunak that may sting more as his sentiment echoed comments made by England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, that what Carey did was simply “just not cricket”.
A spokesperson for Mr Sunak’s office told reporters in the UK that he was unhappy with Australia stumping Bairstow after he ducked a ball and wandered out of his crease.
“The Prime Minister agrees with Ben Stokes. He said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did,” a spokesman for Mr Sunak’s office said.
“The game did provide an opportunity to see Ben Stokes at his best and it was an incredible Test match and he has confidence England will bounce back at Headingley.”
When asked whether Mr Sunak believed Australia had not upheld the spirit of cricket, his spokesperson said: “Yes.”
That pile-on comes despite footage clearly showing Bairstow trying to stump Australian batters in the exact same manner as Carey took his wicket.
Bairstow had done the same thing just two days prior when trying to get Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne out.
Australia captain Pat Cummins even pointed out the English hypocrisy himself post-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.
Mr Sunak’s views are at odds with several former players, with former England red and white-ball captains Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan among those defending Australia.
“There was absolutely nothing wrong with it but, of course, the crowd will see it through English patriotic eyes,” Strauss said on Sky Sports.
“Bairstow was being dozy going outside of his crease. I was pretty comfortable with what Australia did.”
India star Ravichandran Ashwin has also backed Australia’s actions, having himself been involved in Mankad controversies.
“The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a Test match unless he or his team have noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball like Bairstow did,” Ashwin posted on social media.
“We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game.”
ABC/AAP
