Fears Headingley’s notorious Western Terrace will target Australia’s players and their families after the Lord’s stumping of Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow have been heightened as England captain Ben Stokes failed to take the opportunity to appeal to local cricket fans for calm.
Still annoyed by his embarrassing dismissal on the final day of the Lord’s Test last Sunday, Bairstow confronted match officials in the middle of Headingley during training on Test eve to discuss the episode.
Pat Cummins in bowling action during Australia nets ahead of the third Ashes Test match at Headingley.Credit: Getty Images
Australian captain Pat Cummins confirmed that extra security for the team – requested in the wake of ugly scenes at Lord’s – includes surveillance of the players’ and support staff’s families.
“We are in our partner period here, so lots of family and kids are around,” Cummins said before training. “I think there will be an extra eye on them where they are in the crowd to make sure everything is fine.”
A witness told this masthead that security failed to act when the families were being abused at Lord’s, with the mother of one player leaving Lord’s early and the son of a support staff member targeted because he was wearing an Australian cricket fan’s shirt and cap.
Cricket officials are nervous about how the usually raucous Headingley crowd will react to the Australians after England have spent all week invoking the ‘spirit of cricket’ following Bairstow’s controversial stumping by Alex Carey on the final day of the Lord’s Test last Sunday.
England’s Jonathan Bairstow smiles during England nets at Headingley on Wednesday.Credit: Getty Images
To date, neither the MCC nor the ECB have spoken out publicly in order to cool some of the rhetoric being directed towards the Australian team after Bairstow’s dismissal. Cummins was repeatedly asked on Wednesday whether he regretted appealing for Bairstow’s wicket, and steadfastly declined to back down.
England have been critical of the Australians in general and captain Cummins in particular for not withdrawing the appeal after Carey threw the stumps down as Bairstow walked out of his crease believing it was over.
“I can’t really comment around what to say, do this and don’t do that,” Stokes said after training on Wednesday. “I just think everyone knows what the atmosphere is like here. We know what the atmosphere is like in Australia. So yeah. But I think it’s just going to be one of those things where we will have the home support fully behind us.”
England captain Ben Stokes heads with his bats to the nets during England nets at Headingley on Wednesday.Credit: Getty Images
The fallout from Lord’s, where the crowd in the stands and MCC members in the pavilion repeatedly booed and chanted “cheat”, has prompted the extra security, including spotters in the crowd and sophisticated camera surveillance.
Chief International Cricket Council match referee Ranjan Madugalle met with the opposing captains, coaches and managers at the ground on Wednesday to ensure both teams were aware of their responsibilities to the game.
Madugalle is part of a scheduled mid-series exchange of match officials, replacing referee Andy Pycroft, who failed to take any official action against England fast bowler Ollie Robinson when he abused Usman Khawaja after dismissing him during the first Test at Edgbaston.
Umpires Ahsan Raza, Chris Gaffaney and Marais Erasmus, the third umpire who disallowed Mitchell Starc’s boundary catch on day four and gave Bairstow out on day five, have been replaced by Nitin Menon, Kumar Dharmasena and Joel Wilson.
It was Wilson who famously reprieved Stokes from a very adjacent Nathan Lyon lbw shout just before he sealed England’s memorable win at Leeds in 2019.
The controversy prompted former international umpire and umpires’ adviser Simon Taufel to claim on LinkedIn that Australia had not breached the spirit of cricket.
“The hypocrisy and lack of consistency from some people and groups is quite interesting and concerning for the future of our game,” Taufel wrote.
His points included:
- Have you seen any umpire tell a fielding side that the keeper standing back is not allowed to attempt a stumping?
- Was there a complaint from anyone when Bairstow tried to stump Marnus exactly the same way in the first innings?
- What has Jonny Bairstow said about his dismissal? He has been very quiet. Why?
- My experience is when people don’t like a dismissal under the Laws of Cricket, they cite the Spirit of Cricket to support their view.
- Which part of the codified Preamble (the Spirit of Cricket) was breached by the fielding side?
- Should a batter be immune from dismissal as per the Laws by simply being negligent (and leaving his ground too early)?
Bairstow’s Yorkshire teammate, former England captain Joe Root, appealed to the crowd for calm during a press conference on Tuesday.
“Support England. I think that’s the most important thing, that you come in to support your nation, doesn’t need to go beyond that. It shouldn’t ever go beyond that,” said Root, one of England and Yorkshire’s most decorated players.
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