Ashes 2023: Jonny Bairstow decision awkward but not cheating, Robert Craddock Q&A

Australia’s decision to appeal for a controversial run-out against Jonny Bairstow wasn’t cheating, but it does leave one awkward question. Plus replay the live Ashes Q&A.

Sanctimonious England should save us the holier than thou attitude, but there was still an awkwardness about the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s.

In post-match interviews, Australian players were quick to draw similarities between Alex Carey’s run-out of Bairstow and Mitchell Starc’s disallowed catch of Ben Duckett the previous day – like it or lump it, the letter of the law was followed and the umpires had the final call. End of story.

That is fair enough to say, but it does raise the question whether Australia’s residual frustration over the decision to overturn Starc’s catch in any way played into their motivation for following through with the bizarre dismissal of Bairstow.

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Not in Carey’s intuition to throw the ball, but in Australia’s thought process in the moments after – before Bairstow was sent on his way.

Because the two incidents were not apples and apples.

The Starc catch was completely in the domain of the umpires and Duckett was three-quarters of the way back to the pavilion when he was called back … whereas Australia did have a decision to make about whether or not to go ahead with its appeal against Bairstow.

There is no doubt Bairstow was lazy and careless. He should have waited until the umpire called “over” before beginning his gardening expedition. It was a brain fade and he’s kidding himself if he thinks anyone else is to blame. Stay in your crease.

But he didn’t quite wander down the wicket like a Brown’s cow. As subtle as it might have been, there was a moment when Bairstow looked down and checked his bat in the crease before loafing out.

The global attitude towards Mankad dismissals has rightfully changed over recent years, given the plague of non-strikers thinking they can gain an advantage by getting a headstart on their march down the wicket for a run before the bowler has released the ball.

But even then, Australia’s attitude to Mankads has been to warn first, and then it’s fair game.

On day five at Lord’s, did Australia warn Bairstow that they’d spotted him shabbily leaving the crease early at the end of overs?

If so, play on. But if not, maybe Australia should have, given – unlike Mankad situations – Bairstow was not trying to take any advantage.

Although, that said, Bairstow was the batsman and not the non-striker.

It was a complex dismissal with very deep shades of grey and despite the chants of the pompous, feral Lord’s members, this was not cheating by Australia in any way shape or form.

Nor did it cost England victory. In fact, the dismissal appeared to only enhance England’s chances as it lit a fire inside Ben Stokes that prompted one of the great Test centuries.

The fact England greats like Mike Atherton and Andrew Strauss, and a large number of the experienced and respected UK beat writers, were more damning of Bairstow’s carelessness than they were of the Australians actions said plenty.

Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Jonny Bairstow. Picture: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is the international advocate for Mankad dismissals and he too jumped on social media to commend Alex Carey and the Australians for their game smarts in noticing the pattern of Bairstow leaving his crease.

Australian captain Pat Cummins added in the post-match press conference that Bairstow himself as England keeper had shied at the stumps earlier in the Test trying to catch out the wandering feet of Aussie batsmen.

On that point, England coach Brendon McCullum needs to be careful about throwing stones given within minutes of Bairstow being out, the twitterati produced video evidence of two occasions of him running out batsmen in similar circumstances during his career as New Zealand wicketkeeper.

But, even so, it all felt a bit awkward.

The comparisons to the Starc catch did make it sound like Australia felt, at least on a subconscious level in the heat of the moment, that there was a sense of natural justice at play for what had occurred earlier in the Test.

Would Australia have been motivated to act differently had they not themselves fallen victims to cricket’s rigid and inane law book earlier in the innings?

Only Australia can say, but it will be a flash point debated for decades.