Brendon McCullum says Australia will have to ‘live with’ the decision not to recall Jonny Bairstow

Brendon McCullum believes Australia will have to ‘live with’ their decision not to recall Jonny Bairstow after his controversial stumping at Lord’s – and says England can channel their frustration into making history by coming from 2-0 down to regain the Ashes.

The third Test of an increasingly fractious series starts at Headingley on Thursday, with Australian coach Andrew McDonald saying he was ‘disappointed’ by McCullum’s reaction after Sunday’s second Test ended in a 43-run for the tourists.

Asked if he thought the dismissal of Bairstow – stumped by Alex Carey after he left his crease at the end of an over before the umpires considered the ball dead – would affect the spirit between the sides, England’s head coach replied: ‘I imagine it will affect it, I think it has to. In the end, they made a play, they’ve got to live with that. We would have made a different play, but that’s life.

‘We believe we can still come back in this series. There are times as a coach where you’ve got to reduce emotion, because it’s going to bubble over and you can make poor decisions. And there are times when you allow emotion to go, because it’s going to galvanise the unit.

Brendon McCullum (right) has said Australia will have to ‘live with’ their decision not to recall Jonny Bairstow following Sunday’s controversial dismissal at Lords

Bairstow (right) was ran out by Alex Carey (back-left) after the England wicketkeeper-batsman walked out of his crease at the end of an over

McCullum admitted Bairstow was out by the letter of the law but implied that his team would have made a ‘different play’ and recalled Bairstow were they in Pat Cummins (front) shoes

‘That’s what I felt this emotion did for the side. I looked around the group and the guys were a little upset. If that helps us to win those key moments in the next Test, then I’m all for it.’

McCullum admitted Bairstow was out by the letter of the law, but questioned whether his dismissal was in the spirit of the game.

‘With the benefit of time and maturity as a player, you understand how vital the spirit of the game is, and you make decisions you sometimes look back on and say: “Did I get that right?”

‘Technically it was out. I just question that Jonny wasn’t looking to try and take a run. He felt the umpires had intimated that it was “over”, and the evidence sort of backs that up. It’s incredibly disappointing, as he’s such a wonderful player in run-chases as well. You always look at things like that and think: Jeez, what could have been?’

McCullum has been accused of hypocrisy, especially in Australia, after his own involvement with two controversial run-outs during his playing days with New Zealand.

At Bulawayo in August 2005, he ran out Zimbabwe No 11 Chris Mpofu after he left his crease to congratulate team-mate Blessing Mahwire on his maiden Test fifty. Then, in December 2006, he did the same to Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan, who wandered over to shake hands with centurion Kumar Sangakkara. In both cases, the ball was not dead, though McCullum has since admitted he regretted his actions.

‘I’ve made an apology to Murali in my Cowdrey Lecture,’ he said. ‘When I was a younger man I didn’t quite understand the significance of what the spirit of the game means. It’s the defining point of the game compared to others. We’ll see, but in time I get the feeling that it might have an effect on [Australia].’

‘In the end, they won the Test match and fair play to them. It’s just a shame that when you’ve got millions of people all around the world, and you’ve got a full house here at Lord’s, that for the next couple of days probably the most talked-about aspect is going to be that.’

With Australia still furious about the treatment their players received from some MCC members in the pavilion, McDonald defended Carey’s actions. ‘There’s no doubt when a player is leaving their crease at certain periods of time, you take that opportunity.

‘It’s like when a player is running down the wicket to Nathan Lyon – does he take the opportunity to fire a ball down leg side because he’s leaving his crease? You see a run-out opportunity, you throw at the bowler’s end.’

McCullum believes the closeness of the first two Tests (at Edgbaston, his team lost by two wickets) means England can emulate the 1936-37 Australians and come from 2-0 down to win.

The wicket meant that Australia would go on to secure the victory in Lords and go 2-0 up in the Ashes series 

While McCullum also insisted that it ‘was out’ he did assert that the stumping was not in the spirit of the game

Stuart Broad (right) jested with the Australian team after Bairstow was dismissed, sarcastically ensuring his bat was still in the crease at the end of multiple balls 

‘Three-two has got a nice ring to it,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to polish up a couple of the areas where the game has sat on a knife-edge and we haven’t been able to grab it. We knew coming into this series it was going to be tight and there was going to be those moments. If we can do that, there’s no reason we can’t bounce back.’

If that implied criticism of England’s headstrong batting in the first innings at Lord’s, where Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Joe Root fell in quick succession to the short ball, then McCullum stopped short of saying his players had got it wrong.

‘The way we are trying to be clear in our thinking and believe in our decisions, and immerse ourselves in that, is what we have conviction in. There will be times it doesn’t work and we are going to suffer criticism. That’s just the nature of playing at the top level.’

Meanwhile, England are yet to decide on Pope’s involvement at Headingley after he underwent a scan  on the right shoulder he hurt in the field at Lord’s on Monday. If he is ruled out, Essex’s Dan Lawrence could make his Ashes debut.