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No, not the book but what happened at Lord’s yesterday. Batsman Jonny Bairstow, thinking the ball was dead, moved out of his crease, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey saw a chance and stumped him. Now, I personally think that Bairstow was a duffer and shouldn’t have gone wandering out of his crease; by the laws of the game, the umpires had no choice but to give him out. In cricket though, there is an idea about ‘the spirit of the game’, not just the laws of the game and this was a hugely unpopular decision. The noise of the booing from the normally sedate crowd at Lord’s was astonishing; in all my lifetime of following cricket, I’ve never heard anything like it. The Australians congratulated themselves but for a while it was a pyrrhic victory because they had annoyed Ben Stokes, England captain. Do not annoy Ben Stokes. The red mist descended: coolly and in complete control, he began smiting the ball out of the ground, bringing up his century with three consecutive sixes. He was bravely supported at the other end by Stuart Broad, who began by exchanging some verbals (technical term, overseas readers :-) and then playing up to the crowd by pointedly placing his bat right in front of the wicket, while eyeballing Carey. Stokes and Broad must be covered in bruises today, they took so many knocks.
The Australians were booed off the field at lunch and even heckled and jostled by MCC members in the Long Room. Members! They’re mostly respectable old gents. As a result, MCC has had to apologise to Cricket Australia. When Stokes was finally out for 155, even the Australian supporters gave him a standing ovation. He later denied that this astonishing performance was anything to do with the Bairstow incident, that he was just reading the game. I don’t believe a word of it. Once he'd gone, we were just waiting for the wickets to tumble and indeed they did and Australia won. (I think we’d have lost anyway.) The events have left very bad feeling. Pat Cummins, Australian captain, was even booed at the presentations (he had the option of withdrawing the appeal). The next match, at Headingley, will be very interesting!
The Australians were booed off the field at lunch and even heckled and jostled by MCC members in the Long Room. Members! They’re mostly respectable old gents. As a result, MCC has had to apologise to Cricket Australia. When Stokes was finally out for 155, even the Australian supporters gave him a standing ovation. He later denied that this astonishing performance was anything to do with the Bairstow incident, that he was just reading the game. I don’t believe a word of it. Once he'd gone, we were just waiting for the wickets to tumble and indeed they did and Australia won. (I think we’d have lost anyway.) The events have left very bad feeling. Pat Cummins, Australian captain, was even booed at the presentations (he had the option of withdrawing the appeal). The next match, at Headingley, will be very interesting!
