England head coach Brendon McCullum thinks Alex Carey’s controversial punching of Jonny Bairstow at Lords will “affect” Ashes’ remaining three games. The final day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground witnessed a debatable moment in the 52nd when Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey knocked out England batsman Jonny Bairstow with a direct delivery.
Bairstow hit 10 runs and was stunned by the dismissal as he was not expecting a delivery from the wicket-keeper as he was just walking off the crease after leaving the ball. Many cricketers criticized the dismissal, calling it against the spirit of the game.
Reflecting on the incident, McCullum said Australia’s action will affect the spirit of the game.
“I imagine it will affect it, I think it has to. In the end, they made a play, they have to live with that. We would have made another play, but that’s life,” said McCullum, quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
The former New Zealand batsman is focusing on the remaining three Tests and believes they can get back into the series.
“From our point of view, we believe we can still come back in this series, and that’s where our focus should be. What I’ll say is it’s a galvanized unit up there.” [the England dressing-room] and we saw the skipper, Broady’s fight [Stuart Broad] and the guys at the end there too, which shows how much this means to the side. We are licking our wounds and trying to come back and make things right,” McCullum continued.
“In the end, Australia won the test match and fair game for them. It’s just a shame when you have millions of people around the world, and you have a full house at Lord’s, and you have everyone’s eyeballs on this series, that for days to come probably the most discussed aspect that will be [the dismissal] and that’s disappointing,” he added.
Australia managed to go 2-0 up in the series as they recorded victory by a margin of 43 points. Australia and England will face off in the Third Test at Headingley Carnegie from July 6.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
