British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accused Australia of breaking the spirit of cricket, including to the nationwide pile-on over the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping.
Australia are bracing for extra harsh remedy from crowds at Headingley this week, after their dramatic 43-run win at Lord’s gave them a 2-0 lead within the Ashes sequence.
England media on Monday laid the boot into Australia with a number of references to the phrase “cheat” on back and front pages, with pictures from inside the Lord’s lengthy room.
Both the Daily Express and Metro ran with the bodyline-themed “Just Not Cricket” headline, whereas London’s Daily Telegraph labelled it an “underhand dismissal”.
It comes after each England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum hit out at Australia within the dramatic postscript to Sunday’s dramatic end, saying they’d have withdrawn the attraction.
Sunak has now backed the pair’s claims, with a spokesperson for his workplace telling reporters within the UK that he was sad with Australia stumping Bairstow after he ducked a ball and wandered out of his crease.
“The prime minister agrees with Ben Stokes. He said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did,” a spokesman for Sunak’s workplace mentioned.
“The game did provide an opportunity to see Ben Stokes at his best and it was an incredible Test match and he has confidence England will bounce back at Headingley.”
When requested whether or not Sunak believed Australia’s had not upheld the spirit of cricket, his spokesperson mentioned: “Yes.”
Australia have defended the stumping, adamant Bairstow himself has thrown the ball again on the wickets whereas wicketkeeping in the identical Test.
They additionally consider a call on whether or not the ball was lifeless on the finish of the over is one for the umpires, a degree Stokes has largely disagreed with.
Sunak’s views are at odds with a number of former gamers, with former England pink and white-ball captains Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan amongst these defending Australia.
“There was absolutely nothing wrong with it but, of course, the crowd will see it through English patriotic eyes,” Strauss mentioned on Sky Sports.
“Bairstow was being dozy going outside of his crease. I was pretty comfortable with what Australia did.”
India star Ravichandran Ashwin has additionally backed Australia’s actions, having himself been concerned in mankad controversies.
“The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a Test match unless he or his team have noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball like Bairstow did,” Ashwin posted on social media.
“We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
