England men’s team head coach Brendon McCullum has expressed his displeasure at the turn of events resulting in Jonny Bairstow’s shocking dismissal during the fifth day of the 2nd Test against Australia at Lord’s on Sunday.
Bairstow was guilty of leaving his crease while the ball was still in play and Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey spotted the opportunity to have him stumped on 10.
England have been unhappy over Australia not withdrawing their appeal for the dismissal with head coach Brendon McCullum hinting there is some bad blood between the two teams following the incident.
Speaking to BBC after the match, McCullum said he “can’t imagine…having a beer any time soon” with the Australian team.
McCullum further added that Australian team’s actions were against the spirit of the game.
“When you become older and more mature, you realise the game and the spirit of it is something you need to protect. You have to make decisions in the moment, and they can have effects on games and people’s characters,” McCullum said.
While admitting Bairstow was out as per the rule but the batter wasn’t trying to take a run.
“By the letter of the law, he is out. Jonny was not trying to take a run. It is one of those difficult ones to swallow and you look at the small margins, it is incredibly disappointing. But lots of people will have their opinion on both sides of the fence. The most disappointing thing is that it will be the most talked about event of a great Test match,” he said.
Former Australia legspinner Bryce Mcgain termed McCullum’s comments as disappointing while claiming that the England team talking about spirit of the game shows ‘poor leadership’ on the part of coach and captain Ben Stokes.
“Brendon McCullum’s comments were disappointing, saying that we’re not going to greet them and have a beer with them after the game at any time soon,” McGain told SEN WA Breakfast.
“I think that just shows poor leadership and maybe bad sportsmanship as well. Ben Stokes talking about the spirit of the game and the coach leading that way. They’re clearly rattled within that playing group and they’re looking at the smallest things to really hang their hat on about why it happened. In cricket, you know those things are out of your control, you can just control what you do and if Jonny Bairstow had just waited like every other play had done, it wouldn’t of been an issue,” he added.
Comments
0 comment