‘We would have withdrawn appeal, called back batter’, Joe Root says of Jonny Bairstow stumping

Star batter says Australia’s controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow contrasts sharply with how England has gone about its Test cricket in the past 18 months.

Happier (non-Ashes) times … Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow celebrate England’s win over India in last year’s Edgbaston Test. Picture: Getty Images

Joe Root said that England would have withdrawn an appeal if they had found themselves in the situation Australia had at Lord’s, when Alex Carey controversially stumped Jonny Bairstow, sending England towards a defeat that leaves them 2-0 down in the Ashes.

The incident continues to dominate the build-up to tomorow’s third Test at Headingley and Root believes that his fellow Yorkshireman will be stirred into action after being upset by Australia’s refusal to reconsider their appeal after he had left his ground at the end of an over.

“We would have called them back,” Root said. “Ben [Stokes, the captain] spoke very well on it at the end of the game. As a team, we want to play our cricket a certain way, we want to leave a certain legacy. Clearly, it’s very different how we’ve gone about Test cricket in the last 18 months. I think we’d play our cricket a slightly different way in that respect as well.”

Bairstow, like Root, will be playing on his home ground at Headingley and he is sure to attract vociferous support from a crowd that Australia’s players view as the most hostile in England. A combative character, he has been inspired before by altercations with the opposition, most recently when a verbal spat with Virat Kohli in the Test at Edgbaston last year led to him scoring a spectacular century.

He had made 13 from 63 balls before that spat and then went on to hammer 87 runs from his next 56 balls. “Jonny does thrive off things like this,” Root said. “He’s playing at his home ground, local crowd, it’s set up nicely for him. He’ll have the bit between his teeth.”

Root added that England should follow the lead set at Lord’s by Stokes, whose second-innings century was driven by a controlled fury.

“You’ve got to let it get you into a place where you’re still very much in control of what you’re thinking and doing,” Root said. “The best example was Ben. A younger Ben Stokes might have let his emotions override what he needed to do. But look at how he gets himself into that zone. It’s a brilliant example for the rest of the guys to follow.”

Travis Head, the Australia batsman, has claimed that he had a conversation with Bairstow during the first Test at Edgbaston in which the England wicketkeeper said he would do something similar if presented with the opportunity. Speaking to LiSTNR’s Willow Talk podcast, Head said of Bairstow’s dismissal at Lord’s: “Jonny wasn’t too pleased and I reminded Jonny that last week I walked out of my crease at the end of an over. I quickly whipped my bat back and questioned Jonny on whether he would take the stumps and he said, ‘Bloody oath I would,’ and ran off.”

THE TIMES