Stumping effect: Pat Cummins praises increased focus on Test Cricket after Bairstow dismissal

The stumping of England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow by Alex Carey during the Lord’s Test of the 2023 Ashes series, according to Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins, made him appreciate how many individuals were engaged in the game.

On day five of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, Bairstow was on 10 in the 52nd over when he unintentionally left his crease after ducking under a bouncer from Cameron Green.

After catching the delivery, Carey promptly guided an underarm throw, which he fired at the stumps while jumping for excitement. Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney, the on-field umpires, sent the decision up to the upper level, where TV umpire Marais Erasmus affirmed Bairstow’s dismissal.

The dismissal drew a furious reaction from the fans, who started to chant “same old Aussies, always cheating”, and booed the visitors for the rest of the day, with some Australian players also facing verbal abuse from MCC members in long room during lunch interval.

“I think the great thing was how many people were speaking about cricket. It was the middle of winter [in Australia] and cricket was the main sport for a couple of months. So personally, I loved how much people were focusing on Test cricket and loving the contest each day. And also the old rivalry between us and them, every Ashes series seems to drop something,” said Cummins on Channel Seven’s Sunrise show.

Talking about his team-mates Usman Khawaja and David Warner facing some verbal vitriol from the MCC members, Cummins said, “It certainly was a fair old tantrum. I haven’t experienced anything like that before … but I will say across my career, I’ve seen that type of dismissal at least 20 times, and it is always out.”

“Davey (David Warner) and Ussie (Usman Khawaja) went back at a few of the members following some comments, it was getting pretty heated. I got the gossip from the other guys, then we all took a deep breath and looked to stay composed. We had a break, and then reset.”

England came back strongly from 2-0 down to draw the series 2-2. Though Australia did not win the Ashes, they managed to retain the urn. “Our aim was to retain the Ashes, which we did, but even now I look back and some moments which if they went our way could have seen a series win as opposed to a draw.”

“We also retained the urn over there in 2019, so I am very proud of what we have achieved. Winning away from home is tough,” added Cummins, who is also Australia’s ODI captain.

The right-arm bowler claimed he needs “another couple of weeks” to recover from injuring his left wrist in the final Ashes Test at The Oval. He is not participating in Australia’s white-ball tour of South Africa. In less than 50 days, the Men’s ODI World Cup will begin, and Cummins is confident Mitchell Marsh can excel in his role as interim captain in South Africa.

“He’ll be great. He’s done a bit of vice-captaincy before but he’s always a leader around the group. He’s great fun, especially in T20 and one-day cricket – he takes the game on. I think that’s what you need in that format so he’s going to do a terrific job.”

-IANS