Australian captain Pat Cummins has asked the England cricket team to move on from Jonny Bairstow’s controversial run-out and focus on themselves ahead of the third Ashes 2023 Test, which is scheduled to be played at Headingley in Leeds from July 6 onwards.
Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal on the final day of the 2nd Test match, which Australia ultimately won by 43 runs despite an outstanding knock of 155 runs from Ben Stokes, triggered the England players. The dismissal also started the ‘spirit of cricket’ debate, with several players and experts taking their stands on the controversial dismissal.
Jonny had left the crease immediately ducking under a Cameron Green bouncer. Alex Carey was quick to grab the ball and the opportunity as well as he threw the ball at the stumps and appealed for the wicket of Bairstow. The third umpire ruled Bairstow out.
While England players slammed the Australian team for being against the ‘spirit of cricket’, on the other hand, players were booed in the field by the crowd and even in the long room of the Lord’s. The debate got so intense that even the Prime Ministers of both countries shared their opinion on this matter.
Pat Cummins Urges England To Move On From Jonny Bairstow’s Run-Out
Meanwhile, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, Pat Cummins has urged the England players to move on from the controversial incident. He said:
“For what I think is a pretty common non-event, it does seem like everyone has a pretty strong opinion about it. I don’t think there’s any discussion; it’s out. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn’t be looking at the opposition, I’d probably be thinking [about] our batter, and would be thinking it’s pretty silly,”
Further, Cummins was asked if the England team’s response to the Bairstow dismissal was an attempt to distract from their losses in the series. Responding to this, Cummins said:
“I know what our team does, and that’s we concentrate on ourselves. When we haven’t been playing up to scratch, we look pretty deeply at what we are doing and try to make amends. We don’t apportion blame to conditions or opposition or anything else going on. I’m proud of how our boys have conducted themselves [on] this tour, especially on that day five. I thought the way they maintained respect for the opposition, the umpires [and] the crowd, their dignity was first-class,”
The third Test between the two sides will be played at Headingley from July 6 onwards.
