Bairstow, the spirit of cricket and moral high ground hypocrites.

 

Bairstow and The Spirit of Cricket: Taking the moral high ground, hypocritically. The Third  Ashes Test is  under way at Headingly. When Pat Cummins walked out for the coin toss he was booed. When Steven Smith walked out to bat in his 100^th Test he was booed. When wicketkeeper Alex Carey walked out to bat he was booed. This unsporting reception to Australian players who had done nothing other than walk onto the arena was largely due  to the manufactured hysteria stirred up by England captain Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad and a frenzied English media over what has become the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in England’s second innings at Lords.

It could prove to be a very torrid Ashes contest from here on. A shame really, because the first two tests at Edgbaston and Lords were see sawing contests played aggressivelyby two good teams but in good sporting spirit. However, in the Lords Test, Jonny Bairstow walked out of  his crease while  a short pitched ball travelled passed his wickets to Alex Carey, the Australian wicketkeeper. Carey caught the ball and immediately threw down wandering Bairstow’s wicket. The umpires were still in place. They had not called Over. The ball was very much alive. English Captain, Ben Stokes was batting at the other end at the time of this dismissal. Apart from asking and being told by the umpires that they had not called Over, Ben Stokes did nothing. The Third Umpire gave the only decision that could be given. Out! Stumped! Well and truly. And fairly!

Bairstow had tried to dismiss Australian batsman, Marnus Labuschagne, in a similar fashion in the Australia’s first innings. He missed the stumps. This was probably a good thing, because if had he hit them, it is obvious from the  comments that they subsequently made, that Stokes and  Broad would not have appealed for a stumping. They would have insisted that Labuschagne stay on batting.                   At least, that is what they now  say they would do.

Three hours after the Bairstow stumping and as Captain of the team that had just lost two Test matches in a row, Ben Stokes said the Bairstow stumping dismissal was against the spirit of cricket. He said it was  not something he would have done. He said that it violated the spirit of the game. This was sheer self-righteous hypocrisy. There is plenty of video evidence of England teams dismissing batsmen in similar circumstances with fieldsmen rejoicing and congratulating the wicketkeeper or the nearby fielder for being so astute.

Stokes’ is a magnificent cricketer but sanctimonious comments deflected attention away from his side’s two successive Test defeats and away from Bairstow’s stupidity in ignoring a fundamental law of cricket that the batsman must stay behind the crease until the ball is dead. So far, Jonny Bairstow has made  no public comments on his dismissal. Perhaps, he understands that he was dismissed fairly after a monumental brain fade and that the consequent self- righteous uproar is just hypocritical grandstanding. According to the laws of cricket the ball is not dead until the two batsmen and the fielding side have demonstrated to the umpire at the bowlers end that the play from a particular delivery has ended,  then the ball is dead. That is, when there is no further action after the ball has been bowled, hit and fielded and  all player  activity from that delivery has ceased.

Clearly the ball was not dead. Carey threw it towards the stumps immediately after he caught it. The fact that Bairstow thought it was dead is inconsequential. As a batsman, he has to stay behind his crease until HE KNOWS the ball is dead. It does not matter what Bairstow was thinking, if he was actually thinking at all.

When Broad arrived at the wicket to bat, he told Alex Carey that  the stumping was “the worst thing I have ever seen in cricket.” He told Carey that all he would be remembered for was the Bairstow stumping. On the other hand, there are many Australian cricket followers who will only remember Broad, who is a wonderful bowler,  for giving a very thick edged catch to first slip and refusing to walk when the umpire, who must have been asleep, said it was not out. Video shows it was a clear catch. The spirit of cricket?

By taking the moral high ground, as defenders of the spirit of cricket, Stokes, the England team, the English media and the frenzied fans are skating on thin ice. They are demonstrating the truism about stone throwing and people in glass houses. Here are just some examples of where England has behaved in a manner which, they now say condescendingly, is against the spirit of the game of cricket:-

Bodyline bowling. In Australia in 1932/3 England, captained by Douglas Jardine, unleashed a form of leg theory bowling that was aimed solely at curbing the batting brilliance of Don Bradman who had scored over 900 hundred runs in the five tests  in the 1930 Ashes tour of England.

Bodyline bowling required the bowler to bowl directly at the body and head of the batsmen. There were no field restrictions.  As many as eight or nine fieldsmen lurked in the leg side field to catch any hook shots or shots deflected from the bat of a man trying to protect his head, hands and body from a cricket ball rocketing towards him at ninety miles an hour.

Naturally, Australia protested to the MCC over this form of “unfair” cricket. The Australian captain, Bill Woodfull, collapsed after being hit above the heart and was taken from the field for medical attention. In the dressing room he told the  manager of the English team and a former test cricketer, Sir Pelham Warner, “There are teams on the field, but only one of them is playing cricket.”

The  MCC were very upset at being told by the Australian Cricket Board Of Control that their players were “unfair”. That Bodyline was against the spirit of the game. The MCC replied that Bodyline was fair and if Australia did not like it they would cancel the rest of the tour.      At the same time the MCC, indeed all of England, lavished praise on Jardine and the express fast bowler, Harold Larwood, for beating of Australia and curbing the batting genius of Bradman. The tour continued but ill feelings lingered on from both sides of the Bodyline monster.

Not all Englishmen agreed with Jardine’s win at all costs approach. Several players in Jardine’s team did not agree with Bodyline. Fast bowler, Gubby Allen, refused to bowl to stacked leg fields. He was an amateur cricketer and, as such, could not be forced by Jardine to bowl Bodyline. Larwood was a professional cricketer  and was required to do as his captain ordered. Walter Hammond, a great batsman and medium pace bowler, also refused to bowl Bodyline  and said he would retire from cricket if Bodyline continued.

As for Bradman, the run making genius. Bodyline certainly restricted his scoring. With  the leg side packed, Bradman resorted to moving backwards to the leg side and hitting the ball into the empty off side field. He used a variety of orthodox strokes and some that resembled tennis shots. Some Anti-Bradman critics said it was cowardly to move backwards against the  bodyline attack.  Bradman replied that he thought a batsman was supposed to make runs and not stand his ground  to  be repeatedly hit by the cricket ball. Bradman averaged 54 for the series, which was well below his previous test average of over 100. However, for any normal cricketer, 54 is an excellent average. Such was his batting genius that an average of 54 for Bradman was considered  a failure. 54 was the highest average of any cricketer in both teams for that Bodyline series.

Bradman was ill for the first test and did not play in it. In the four remaining Bodyline tests, Bradman scored more runs than any other batsmen, on either side, made in the five tests, except for Englishmen, Hammond and Sutcliffe.  In their five test these two champions  exceeded Bradman’s series aggregate by less than 80 runs. f course, Sutcliffe and Hammond never had to face Bodyline bowling.

After the Bodyline series, Jardine and Larwood returned to England as heroes,  conquerors of Bradman and Australia. The MCC continued to insist that  Bodyline bowling was legitimate cricket. However, in the next English summer, a touring West Indian team started bowling Bodyline against the English batsmen. The MCC soon changed its tu.ne It said Bodyline bowling could not continue. As a result, it ruled that fielding teams could only place two fielders behind square leg, thus reducing the number of fielders on the leg side and seriously weakening a full out short pitched attack on the batsman’s body. Bradman was master of the hook shot. His unorthodox grip caused him to roll the bat as he hit the ball so that it went along the ground and not up in the air.

Broad Not walking. Clearly caught in the slips, in a crucial Test in the 2013 Ashes series, Stuart Broad stood his ground when the sleeping umpire did not uphold the Australian appeal. Australia had used up all of its DRS appeals. The DRS video showed clearly that Broad had given a very thick edge to Michael Clark at first slip. Broad is the man who is now  saying he would never break the spirit of the game or try to win at all costs. In this instance he did play to win at all costs.  Broad after that incident said that “these things won’t be remembered…we do have a win at all costs mentality” It is for that 2013 refusal to walk that all Australians will remember Broad. It makes his current, high moral ground, spirit of the game,  holier than thou approach, so shamefully  hypocritical.

Ball tampering. All cricketers try to keep one side of the ball shiny on one side and rough on the other. However, there are ways and means of doing so. Using sandpaper, as Australia once did,  is manifestly a definite no, no. To its credit, Australia banned three test cricketers for the Sandpaper fiasco, which left all Australian cricket lovers embarrassed and ashamed.

Players in other nations have not been so harshly dealt with, including those spirit of the game, moral high ground seeking England players, Marcus Trescothick, former England batsmen, said that in the 2005 Ashes series his job was to fill his pocket with mint lollies. During the game he used his mint flavoured saliva to enhance the shine on the ball.                                              No charges were ever brought against Trescothick. When he was England’s Captain, Mike Atherton carried rough sand in his pocket to rough up the ball. Stuart Broad was accused of roughing up the ball by using his spiked boots top stop it. Even England bowling legend, James Anderson, was once in trouble for picking at the seam of the ball, again, a definite no. no.

Specialist substitute fielders. Cricket teams consist of 11 players with an 11th player named who can be a substitute fielder if the fielding team suffers an injury. The substitute can not bat or bowl. In 2005 England decided to enhance the subsitute rule in the Ashes series against Australia. As well as the 11 players and the 12th Man, they chose three very fit, youthful and excellent fieldsmen to travel with the England test team. Frequently during test matches the English bowlers and other players would leave the field of play to have a rest, a shower, a rub down,  or whatever. These brilliant young fielders would take heir places. The spirit of the game? It meant that the Australian 11 was actually playing against a team consisting of 14 or 15 players. Certainly well outside the spirit of the game.

Jelly Bean Gate. At Trent Bridge in 2007, England was playing against India when jellybeans appeared on the pitch. India was batting. The jelly beans were removed by the Indian batsmen. Shortly afterwards, however, even more jellybeans were seen on the pitch. The Indian batsmen alerted the umpires and these jellybeans were also removed. Like small pebbles, the jellybeans could have affected the movement of the ball off the wicket. In 2018, former England batsman, Ian Bell, was revealed as the jelly bean throwing culprit. England subsequently said they were never trying to affect the ball movement off the pitch. They  did it merely to “lighten the mood of the match.” No action was ever taken against Ian Bell.

Batsman run out after mid pitch collision. In a 2008 ODI between  England and New Zealand, NZ batsman  Elliot was running for a single when he collided with England bowler Sidebottom in mid pitch. Both fell to the ground. Ian Bell threw the ball to Kevin Pietersen who promptly whipped off the bails as the England team gleefully appealed for a run out. Considering the circumstances of the situation,  the umpires talked to the England Captain, Paul Collingwood, to see if he wanted to withdraw the appeal. Collingwood said he did not and Elliot was dismissed, Run Out. To show that sometimes what goes around, comes around, England lost that match.

Bairstow attempts a “Carey stumping”. In the recent second test at Lords, wicketkeeper Bairstow attempted to stump Marnus Labuschagne who was batting outside his crease. Bairstow missed  the stumps. After Bairstow himself was dismissed in this way, Stuart Broad said after the match that it was “different”. Yes, apparently, it is OK to dismiss Australian batsmen this way but it is clearly morally wrong to do the same to an England batsman.

The 1956 Fusarium pitch fix. In 1956, Australia beat England at lords in the second test. Fast bowlers, Lindwall and Miller, had the measure of the England batsmen. After the match England Captain, Peter May, told Neil Harvey, “Well, you won’t see a pitch like that again.’

 Soon afterwards, English demon fast bowler, Frank Tyson, was dropped for the next test match at Headingly. Australian captain, Ian Johnson, said Peter May had told Tyson, “We won’t be needing you for a while, Frank.” Obviously England was changing tactics…and pitch preparation.

That Headingly pitch was a spinners’ dream and a batsman’s nightmare. The pitch was crumbling badly on the first day. England spinner, Jim Laker, took 19 of the 20 Australian wickets to fall in the match. Australia was easily defeated. Considering that the oval was verdantly lush, legendary Australian commentator, Alan McGilvray, asked the Headingly  groundsman why the grass on the pitch was dead. McGilvray told his radio listeners in Australia that the groundsman blamed it on a new “weedkiller” he had used on the pitch. He said it was called Fusarium. It might just have been an early version of Roundup because it certainly killed the turf on the pitch.

Perhaps the same thing is happening all over again. Before the  2023 Ashes series started, Ben Stokes asked groundsmen to produce flat, lifeless  wickets. This was done. However, Stokes, at two test down in a five test series,  now needs wickets that will be more lively, to give a result. This Headingly pitch showed itself to be very lively and wonderfully suited to the five fast bowlers that are now in the England team. including Woods who is probably the fastest bowlers in the world. The England tactics have changed dramatically and so has the nature of the test pitch.

 The Moral high Ground. Clearly, England have long cricket history of winning at all costs which prevents it from ever claiming the moral high ground. Especially over the routine stumping of Jonny Bairstow. They should be talking to Bairstow instead of denigrating Australia’s sporting reputation. Most disappointing of all is this bleating and self-righteous humbug,  fomented mainly by Stokes, Broad and the London media, has aroused such animosity towards the Australian team that even family members and children are being abused. Surely, that is not in the spirit of cricket.

Ben Stokes had his chance to cool down this volatile and potentially dangerous situation when he was asked about the likelihood of a feral, raucous, abusive Headingly crowd. Instead, of saying that we should all move on, as Joe Root has urged, Stokes  fanned the flames. He talked about having the benefits of a Home Ground advantage and having  crowd support for his team. He added that he could not tell spectators how to behave. Perhaps that is true. However, Stokes wants to win. It was not to his advantage to say that spectators have a right to enthusiastically support their home side but that vulgar, abusive insults and physical threats to players and their families are certainly not in the spirit of the game. Stokes deliberately chose not to do so. The English crowd is entitled to cheer for its team and to boo the opposition. However, Stokes’ sad non-response is a subtle hint for the crowd to go feral and that is definitely not in the spirit of cricket.

However, when stumps were drawn at the end of the fantastic first day in this third Test at Headingly, and the players slowly walked  off the field, former England captain, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow walked over to Patrick Cummins and shook hands. It was a wonderful sight to see and it epitomises the true spirit of the game.

Looking forward to Day Two at Headingly and the rest of this very engrossing Ashes contest