Bairstow revisited? Stumping controversy avoided as Steve Smith takes the high ground
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“Steve Smith withdrew a runout appeal in Australia’s match against Afghanistan on Friday, suggesting they now accept they were wrong to go through with the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s two years ago,” he wrote.
Hoult continued: “The ninth wicket in the Afghanistan innings in a Champions Trophy lacks the pressure of a Lord’s Ashes Test and Smith, scarred by his involvement in the sandpaper scandal, was clearly keen to avoid more controversy.”
The Bairstow stumping remains one of the most contentious and talked-about moments in modern cricket.
Australia’s candid dressing room debrief in the immediate aftermath and the flurry of abuse from Marylebone Cricket Club members in the Lord’s Long Room that happened afterwards was revealed by an Amazon Prime documentary series The Test, which was released last year and captured the epic fight for the Ashes.
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Members of the touring Australian side were left with a sour impression of the way the crowds at Lord’s and elsewhere turned on them, combined with what opening batter Usman Khawaja called the “self-righteous” attitude of the England team.
The tensions between the team went to another level with the dismissal of Bairstow when Cummins and Carey noticed a tendency to wander out of his crease – the gloveman hit the stumps with an instinctive underarm that found Bairstow well out.
Nearly two years on, Australia’s tactics are in the spotlight yet again.
After Smith withdrew the appeal in Lahore on Friday, Afghanistan went on to make 25 more runs in the last three overs before being dismissed for 273 on the final ball of the innings.
