Australian players jostled and abused in Lord’s Long Room, but regroup to win 2nd Ashes Test
Australia defied hostility from MCC members and a counterpunching 155 from Ben Stokes that threatened a repeat of his 2019 Headingley heroics.
Australia has taken a 2-0 Ashes lead, defying ugly scenes in the Lord’s Long Room and a counterpunching 155 from Ben Stokes that threatened a repeat of his 2019 Headingley heroics.
The compelling contest was almost lost amid controversy as MCC members abused and jostled Australia’s players in the Long Room during the lunch break.
Footage showed members shouting “cheats, cheats” at the Australians as they made their way up the stairs to the dressing room.
The Australians won by 43 in the end, but there were nervous moments as Stokes put together two century partnerships on his way to a brilliant 155.
It was, however, not enough to win the game and now England face the prospect of losing an Ashes at home for the first time since 2001.
Mitchell Starc (3-79), Pat Cummins (3-69) and Josh Hazlewood (3-80) eventually prevailed.
Rarely has the rarefied atmosphere at Lord’s taken the sort of turn it did with the stands sounding like an angry mob at a cage fight.
The side was booed all morning and long after it had gone into the dressing rooms at the end of the match.
The scenes in the Long Room — a spectators area that players must pass through to reach their dressing rooms — were sparked by a controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow during the session.
Stuart Broad also seemed aggrieved by the incident and was seen arguing with the Australians during and after the break.
Fair to say a few of the members at Lords aren’t happy with the… laws of the game? 😂#TheAshes 2nd Test | Live, on Channel 9 & 9Now.#9WWOS#Cricket#Ashes#ENGvsAUSpic.twitter.com/jdkIBHrlLJ
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) July 2, 2023
The MCC was forced to issue a public apology and suspend three members after initially playing down ugly incidents in the Long Room.
“The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the Pavilion is very special. After this morning’s play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team, by a small number of Members,” a spokesperson said.
“We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian Team and will deal with any Member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes.
“It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground and I am pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon’s session.”
Usman Khawaja was pulled back by security after speaking to one the members inside the long room 😳
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 2, 2023
ðŸ—£ï¸ "I've NEVER seen scenes like that!" pic.twitter.com/2RnjiNssfw
The Australian camp was clearly upset and had requested an investigation by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) into “several incidents involving spectators in the members area’’.
“It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area,” a team statement said.
One person in the Long Room told The Australian the contact included attempts to trip players “under the rope of the players’ corridor”.
Footage showed Usman Khawaja stop and engage with a member before an official stepped between both.
A witness told The Australian that Khawaja responded to the abuse by calling one fan a “pork chop”. The mild mannered batsman then appeared to point out the person responsible to security staff.
The witness said that earlier David Warner had been accosted by a member on the stairwell who was described as “an older gent who had quite a bit of red wine”.
Members had been warned not to engage with players before the team came through.
Another member had to be spoken to for abusing and allegedly pushing Marnus Labuschagne.
Ricky Ponting was also abused in the lunch break by the crowd, which was incensed by the stumping of Bairstow in that session.
The Australian obtained a letter sent to members after the day’s play: “Dear Member, We witnessed an unforgettable day of Test cricket today, though another remarkable Ashes performance from Ben Stokes was unable to prevent Australia from securing a 2-0 lead in the series. They deserve our heartiest congratulations.’’
The game that Australia looked to have lost in the margins on the fourth evening was squared in them on the fifth morning.
With England inching its way toward an unlikely victory Cameron Green bowled a bouncer that sailed past Bairstow and into Alex Carey’s glove.
The batsman wandered casually from his crease and the keeper under armed the ball into the stumps.
The Australians went up in celebration, the crowd, initially stunned, began to announce its displeasure, the sound rising and occasionally shaping into that old “same old Aussies always cheating” ditty.
Replays showed that Bairstow had been similarly careless in previous deliveries and the keeper had attempted a similar dismissal himself earlier in the game.
Carey had taken the ball and thrown it in one motion, but even if he had paused the laws of cricket state that the ball is still in play until both sides regard it as so.
“20.1.2 The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.”
The error was Bairstow’s just as the error on the previous evening was Mitchell Starc’s.
Stokes was provoked into action by the incident and set out on a rampage the likes of which have been rarely seen in Test cricket.
The England captain struck three consecutive sixes in one Green over to move from 82 to his 100.
He seemed to create his own momentum and Australians would have been reliving how he single-handedly got the side over the line at Headingley four years before.
Steve Smith spilled a catch from Stokes at fine leg when the batter was on 114 after lunch and Carey also failed to glove a difficult chance down the leg side before he had added to his score.
Australia had all its fielders on the boundary as the skipper farmed the strike during a 108-run partnership with Broad, who contributed just 11. Stokes had earlier put on 132 with Ben Duckett.
The defiant innings came to an end when the England captain top edged a short ball from Josh Hazlewood and was caught by Carey on 155.
Australia then quickly dismissed the tail, but it had been uphill and anxious outfit before Stokes’ dismissal.
The morning began with cricket still wrestling over the decision to disallow a catch that the bowler believed he had taken in the minutes before play finished for the day.
Starc had made good ground and caught the ball cleanly but grounded the ball in his hand as he came to a halt.
Again the law is clear that it was not a catch and third umpire Marais Erasmus defended his decision before play.
“The law is specific in it says that the fielder has to have control of his body and movement. In that particular case he was still moving and put the ball on the ground,” Erasmus said on Sky.
“Now, if you take that example and say he was sliding towards the boundary, if he had slid into the boundary it would have been either four or six depending on whether the ball touched the ground, so there’s no difference of the interpretation for the catch.
“It was actually quite simple because he put the ball on the ground quite early and eventually when he came to stop it was too late.”
