As the cricket world continues to lose its thoughts over the Jonny Bairstow stumping, the Aussies are seemingly revelling in being public enemies No. 1 by means of 11 in England.
The world erupted when Aussie wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball at Bairstow’s stumps because the England keeper wandered aimlessly down the pitch — solely to be shocked when he was dismissed.
While even essentially the most ardent critic needed to admit it was inside the guidelines, the decision quickly grew to become all in regards to the “Spirit of Cricket”.
At the perfect of occasions, the “Spirit of Cricket” has turn out to be a wishy-washy time period that’s utilized in any controversial second, even when it’s inside the guidelines, as a option to justify getting fired up.
So when Pat Cummins confronted the music of the livid English press after the match, the Aussie skipper appeared to have enjoyable trolling the hosts.
One journalist, seemingly making an attempt to entice Cummins, requested: “Pat, is there such a thing, or do you believe in such a thing as Spirit of Cricket?”
Cummins shortly replied: “Yep.”
It was adopted up with: “Do you think that after Bairstow’s dismissal today, which was within the letter of the Law — no disputing that — but are we in danger of seeing Mankads or underarm bowling later on this series?”
The query was described by some as “rude” and a “ridiculous cop out”, however Cummins broke the stress within the room together with his response and a smile.
“Ah. I mean, depends how flat the wickets get. It might be an option to turn to,” he mentioned because the assembled media erupted in laughter.
Vision of the trade went viral on Monday, main one individual to say it was “Cummins 1-0 Reporter”.
It led to the journalist in query figuring out himself earlier than making an attempt to take one other shot at Australian cricket.
“Nah mate – I asked the question,” Daily Mirror sports activities author Mike Walter tweeted. “But I have never used sandpaper to change a ball’s condition and never bowled underarm along the floor with six needed off the last ball.
“Cummins answered question in good humour – fair play – but the stains on Australia’s reputation remain.”
While the mankad, or working out the non-striker, has been formally authorized since March 2022, it’s nonetheless a controversial dismissal methodology.
And for the file, underarm bowling remains to be authorized in cricket.
Under regulation 21.1.2 of The Laws of Cricket “Underarm bowling shall not be permitted except by special agreement before the match.”
So any underarm bowling will rely on England.
But when Cummins was questioned in regards to the Bairstow wicket, the Aussie captain mentioned he was high quality with the choice, regardless of the firestorm it unleashed.
“I thought it was fair,” he mentioned.
“You know, you see Jonny do it all the time. He did it day one to Davey Warner, he did it in 2019 to Steve (Smith), it’s a really common thing for keepers to do if they see a batter keep leaving their crease, so (Carey), full credit to him, saw the opportunity. I think Jonny did it a few balls beforehand, (Carey) rolled it at the stumps, Jonny left his crease. You leave the rest to the umpires.”
In reality if we’re speaking “Spirit of Cricket”, it’s really the preamble to the legal guidelines, which begins:
“Respect is central to the Spirit of Cricket.
“Respect your captain, teammates, opponents and the authority of the umpires.
“Play hard and play fair. Accept the umpire’s decision.”
Originally printed as Cummins nails English journalist after query about bowling underarm
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
