“It was out, but is it cricket?”
It is an age-old question that has run through the game for decades every time a dismissal is within the rules, but appears to be outside cricket’s vaunted “spirit of the game”. (Such a spirit is not unique to cricket, but it cherishes the notion more than any other sport.)
When the great Australian quick Albert “Tibby” Cotter started terrorising English batsmen in the 1905 Ashes series with balls aimed higher than the stumps – including at the great W.G. Grace – he was attacked by the English press as an “erratic rib-roasting bowler”, whose deliveries were not in the spirit of the game.
By the time of the Bodyline series in the early 1930s, it was England who had perfected bouncing as a weapon of war to counter Donald Bradman and win the series. This tactic prompted Australia’s captain Bill Woodfull to famously say: “There are two teams out there but only one of them is playing cricket”. Sure, it was within the rules, but it was not the way the game should be played.
Trevor Chappell’s underarm ball of 1981, though nothing to do with taking a wicket, was another classic of the genre: it was in the rules of the game, but on that occasion even most Australians agreed it was not cricket! There have been many incarnations since.
And now, the latest controversy.
Alex Carey and Pat Cummins celebrate Jonny Bairstow’s wicket.Credit: Reuters
During England’s second innings, batsman Jonny Bairstow continued to wander out of his crease, most particularly before the umpires had declared the over, “over”. Observing this, Australia’s wicketkeeper Alex Carey came up with a plan. At the end of the 52nd over, on the reckoning he might do it again, the moment Carey got the ball in his gloves from the final delivery from Cameron Green, he rolled the ball at the stumps. Sure enough, by the time the ball knocked the bails off, Bairstow had wandered off.
Out!
Of that, there is no dispute – nor that the aftermath was ugly.
The incoming batsman, veteran England bowler Stuart Broad, said to Carey, “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in cricket … That’s all you’ll be remembered for.”
The England fans at Lord’s agreed, chanting, “Same old Aussies, always cheating”. Even the usually genteel coat-and-tie mob in the Long Room of the members’ stand, with unseemly vigour roared “cheat, cheat, cheat” as the Australians came off for lunch. There are allegations some members jostled the Australians, and one of them said something so horrid to the usually unflappable Usman Khawaja that our bloke turned around and remonstrated.
Feeling aggrieved about this method of dismissal is legitimate – and we’ll get to that – but verbal abuse at the Australians, let alone making physical contact, is obviously not.
Off the field, Carey and the Australians had a fair measure of support, even from English commentators. Respected former England captain Mike Atherton was in no doubt where the blame lay.
“Carey,” he noted on the SKY coverage, “gathered the ball, flicked it in before the umpire had called over, so the ball was still live. It wasn’t dead and that is dozy cricket from Bairstow, and costly cricket.”
This was not, however, a sentiment shared by England coach Brendon McCullum, or captain Ben Stokes or Broad, or Bairstow himself, all of whom were strongly critical, with the general theme being that Carey’s action was indeed not in the spirit of the game and …
And just a moment.
Would this be the same coach and captain who launched a tactic of endless bouncers at the Australians in the second innings, such as they were hit on the body 50 times? The commentators noted that in one session of that innings, 98 per cent of the balls were on the short side! Was that in the spirit of the game?
Would this be the same McCullum who, in his playing days as the Kiwis’ wicketkeeper, did EXACTLY the same thing to England batsman Paul Collingwood in a one-dayer in 2009 only for his captain Daniel Vettori – who is now a member of the Australian coaching team – to recall him?
And you, Stuart Broad? Aren’t you the same Stuart Broad who once gave a nick as big as Farr-Jones, which was caught, and STILL you refused to walk until given out? Spirit, anyone?
And would this be the same Jonny Bairstow who, just two days earlier, attempted to do exactly the same to our own Marnus Labuschagne, when he stepped out of the crease? (Yes, it might have been a faux attempt, just a warning, but it certainly looks the same!)
It is not as if England have been cricket’s answer to Hallmark greeting cards in recent times. They have played the game hard themselves. Mitchell Starc took a great catch on Saturday off a Ben Duckett shot only for the umpire to rule that, technically, it was not out because in breaking his fall Starc had dragged the ball against the turf. There was no move by Duckett to walk but, within the spirit of the game, if not the actual rules, he was out.
But rules were rules, and under those rules, Duckett was not out. Play on!
In sum, there are complaints that can be made against Carey’s action, but the hardened professionals of the England cricket team aren’t the ones to make them.
The views of the Australian cricketing public seem to be – inevitably, I guess – strongly on the side of Alex Carey. A Twitter poll I did on the subject got a huge response, and was a broad 80 per cent in his favour.
Against all that, however?
Against all that, I remain uneasy.
I get that all is fair in love, war and Ashes cricket.
But – fire if you must – my preference would have been for Carey to have taken his inspiration from another famous facet of the game, not in the rules, but accepted form.
I refer to the famous “Mankad” method of dismissal, when a bowler runs in, seemingly about to bowl, only to turn and knock down the stumps at the bowler’s end in the hope of getting the non-receiving batsman out of his crease. It is a legitimate way of getting a batsman out, but over the years the accepted form is for the bowler to warn the batsman first, “Keep backing up so vigorously, and you risk being run out by me”. Had Carey done that, and then got Bairstow out, all good.
As it is, Bairstow is out, and we have won the second Test.
Good. It is just a pity that such a controversy has marred such a great game, and series.
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz
Watch every ball of the 2023 Ashes series live and exclusive on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
