English greats disagree with Ben Stokes and say Jonny Bairstow’s Lord’s Ashes dismissal was fine

England skipper Ben Stokes said he would ‘not want to win that way’ after Alex Carey’s controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow – but many English cricket greats believe the side has nothing to complain about.

Pat Cummins‘ team took a 2-0 lead in the Ashes on a day when the MCC had to apologise after Australia players were abused by members in the Long Room at Lord’s over the incident.

Stokes hit a brilliant century and threatened to pull off an astonishing England win in front of a rowdy Lord’s crowd but he was dismissed for 155, with England still 70 adrift of their target. The tourists went on to complete a 43-run win.

Controversy erupted late in the morning session when England batsman Bairstow wandered out of his crease at the end of an over – believing the ball was dead – only to be run out by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

As Bairstow reluctantly marched off back to the iconic Lord’s pavilion, England fans showered Australia with boos – sparking what turned out to be the most febrile atmosphere the Home of Cricket has likely ever seen.

Cricket fans fumed as Jonny Bairstow was controversially stumped by Alex Carey at Lord’s

Stokes accused the Aussies of forgetting the spirit of the game with Bairstow’s dismissal 

‘If the shoe was on the other foot, I would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked whether they had called over and had a deep think about the whole spirit of the game and whether I would want to do something like that,’ said Stokes.

‘For Australia, it was the match-winning moment. Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer is no,’ he added.

However, several of England’s cricketing greats didn’t have a problem with Carey’s stumping.

Ex-captain Mike Atherton said: ‘England have nothing to complain about, it was a dozy bit of cricket from Jonny Bairstow.’

Another former England skipper, Nasser Hussain, described Carey’s move as, ‘Ruthless, smart, switched on.’

Former player Eoin Morgan didn’t have a major problem with it, either, saying: ‘I don’t see it compromising the spirit of the game’.

English commentator and former Middlesex skipper Isabelle Westbury said the stumping was fair, and pointed out that Ben Foakes’ controversial stumping of Andrew Balbirnie in 2019 received nowhere near the same amount of attention as Carey’s effort.

Meanwhile, Pat Cummins has admitted that the stumping was premeditated, revealing that Carey had seen Bairstow leaving his crease prior to the dismissal.

Ex-England captain Mike Atherton said England have nothing to complain about

Former England skipper Nasser Hussain described Carey’s controversial move as ‘ruthless, smart, switched on’

‘I think Carey saw it happen a few balls previous, there was no pause. Catch it and throw at the stumps,’ he said.

‘I thought it was totally fair play. I know some people disagree but it’s like the catch yesterday. That’s how I saw it.’

Cummins was unapologetic and adamant that Australia had made the right call, when asked whether he considered the spirit of cricket.

‘I thought it was fair. You see Jonny do it all the time. He did it on Day One to (David) Warner. He did it in 2019 to Steve (Smith). It’s a really common thing for keepers to do if they see a batter keep on leaving their crease,’ said the Australia captain.

‘Caz (Carey) – full credit to him. He saw the opportunity a few balls beforehand and rolled at the stumps. Jonny left his crease and we’ll leave the rest to the umpires,’ Cummins added.