Cummins on Bairstow stumping: ‘Spirit of cricket doesn’t even come into a dismissal like that’

Pat Cummins urged England to focus on themselves and their own performances rather than debating over the spirit of cricket amid their anger at Jonny Bairstow’s controversial stumping at Lord’s during the second Ashes Test.

The dismissal on the fifth and final day of the second Test, which Australia won by 43 runs despite Ben Stokes’ fighting 155 run knock, left the home side upset.

The reaction has been strong. Ben Stokes felt it wasn’t something he would do. Medias got involved. As did the Prime Ministers.

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“For what I think is a pretty common non-event, it does seem like everyone has a pretty strong opinion about it,” Cummins said. “I don’t think there’s any discussion; it’s out. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn’t be looking at the opposition, I’d probably be thinking [about] our own batter, and would be thinking it’s pretty silly.”

Asked if England’s response to the Bairstow dismissal was an attempt to deflect from their own shortcomings, Cummins instead focused on how his team had handled the situation – from the immediate moment, the confrontations in the Long Room in the pavillion, to the 48 hours since.

“I know what our team does, and that’s we concentrate on ourselves,” he said. “When we haven’t been playing up to scratch, we look pretty deeply at what we are doing, and try to make amends. We don’t apportion blame to conditions or opposition or anything else going on. I’m really proud of how our boys have conducted themselves [on] this tour, especially on that day five. I thought the way they maintained respect for the opposition, the umpires [and] the crowd, their dignity was first-class.”

Stuart Broad, who would then drag his bat for extended period in comic fashion, and had a go at Alex Carey, wrote in his column that he believes Cummins will regret the appeal in a few years. England coach Brendon McCullum, who had inflicted a similar run out to Muttiah Muralitharan, had apologised for doing it.

Joe Root, who will be playing the third Test at his home ground of Headingley, acknowledged it was within the rules but not something they’d do.

“I think Ben spoke very well on it at the end of the game. As a team, we want to play our cricket a certain way and want to leave a certain legacy,” Root said. “As a player, you want to play the game as how you want to play it. It was within the rules; it was technically out. If you’re happy with that, then fine. If not, I don’t think you can [criticise] other people that play the game slightly differently.”

Cummins, for his part, doubted hhis opinion of the dismissal would change. “Maybe ask me in years to come,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t think a conversation about the spirit of cricket even comes into a dismissal like that. It was plain and simple a stumping.”

Like Lord’s the reception for visiting Australia is expected to hostile. There were chants of ‘same old Aussies, always cheating!’ in London. Cummins said they were ready for it and didn’t expect anything else.

“People pay for their tickets, they can turn up… whilst I hope that I would never go to a sporting event and try to abuse players, some people do,” Cummins said. “I’m sure it’ll be a pretty fiery week from the crowd. But again, we’re on the field. I think in Australia, we’re as guilty as anyone a lot of the time. So I think it’s reality, to be honest.

“If you’re going to play professional sport, unfortunately, that’s one of the things that you’re going to have to deal with. It’s nothing new. I think you could talk about it till the cows come home, but I doubt it’s going to make much of a difference.”

After the fracas in the Lord’s Long Room, Root urged the fans to support the team but not go too far. “I think that’s the most important thing – that you come in to support your nation. [It] doesn’t need to go beyond that,” he said. “It shouldn’t ever go beyond that. Everyone should be here to enjoy the cricket on the field. And, you know, that’s what it should be about, and shouldn’t be about anything other than that.”

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