Alex Carey addresses elephant in the room about infamous Ashes stumping

Alex Carey has addressed the elephant in the room about his infamous Jonny Bairstow stumping, and his answer might surprise you.

Alex Carey is adamant his controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow won’t define him, proudly describing the stumping in last year’s Ashes as a “sharp piece of work”.

The flashpoint of the Ashes came in the second Test at Lord’s last July when Australia devised a plan for Carey to throw down the stumps after noticing Bairstow was repeatedly wandering out of his crease.

The dismissal helped Australia secure a 2-0 series lead, infuriated the Lord’s crowd and English fans, and prompted the Poms to rally to tie the series 2-2.

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In the third series of the Prime Video documentary The Test, to be released on May 24, behind the scenes footage revealed the Australian players’ glee at seeing England lose their marbles.

The documentary covers the brutal fallout of the Bairstow dismissal on Carey, and the concerns the Australian players had for his welfare as the wicketkeeper was torn to shreds by the English press.

“I could sense he wasn’t quite right mentally and I could understand it, so yeah I was worried about him and his wellbeing,” Steve Smith said in The Test.

Travis Head said: “To have a stand full of people booing you and calling you everything under the sun, there’s no doubt part of it would have affected him.”

Alex Carey’s stumping went down in Ashes folklore. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Usman Khawaja said: “It was all on ‘Kez’. Looking back at it, you just feel so bad for him what he and his family went through at that time. It would have been so hard.”

“I actually missed the whole fiasco,” said Carey’s wife Eloise said in the documentary.

“Someone just said Alex got someone out, and I didn’t realise what happened until afterwards when Alex came up and said I think you’re going to have to manage my social media for a while because there’s a few online haters.”

The wicketkeeper confessed “it got a little bit nasty there for a while”.

“That’s the thing that probably shocked me the most, the abuse,” Carey said.

“People going after your personal (sic), family, all that sort of stuff.

“Nah it’s not (easy to deal with). You like to be liked, and as soon as you’re not, it’s like oh, and you’ve got to deal with that.

“I can’t control what people say about it. Can you accept it, can you move on and go out and play and do what we do and love.”

Alex Carey's stumping divided the cricketing world. Photo: Prime Video.

Speaking to news.com.au, Carey said he has no regrets whatsoever about the stumping and he even appeared to now be wearing it as a badge of honour.

“I think the stumping will be discussed for years to come,” Carey said.

“You want a series to be remembered for a long time and this one seriously will be.

“It’s one of those things that will be brought up for a very long time and sits very comfortably with me.

“Having had time to debrief and decompress from the Ashes last year, I hardly even think about it anymore. It does get brought up a lot, which is great. It’s a talking point and you want the series to be known for something.”

Pressed on whether he believes Stuart Broad’s infamous on-field claim that the stumping is all he will be remembered for, Carey said: “Nah, not at all.

“It’s been fine ever since. And I never copped anything in public anyway.”

He added with a smile: “I think it will be remembered for a long time. It was a pretty sharp piece of work and well tactically thought out from a few of the guys around the bat.

“That sits comfortably with myself and the other guys. Hopefully there’s some other highlights in my career we can talk about.

“I think that’s just the beauty of the Ashes. The competition is fierce, we’re playing hard, we’re playing fairly. Naturally the Ashes just produces this theatre of sport that people can’t take their eyes away from and this was certainly one of those series.”

This image became the talk of the sporting world. Picture: Channel 9

Carey has made a concerted effort not to consume media coverage about him and work on mentally processing the controversy from last July.

The 32-year-old has worked with mindset coach Ben Crowe, who was helped Ash Barty win grand slam titles and Trent Cotchin get over the hump to win three AFL premierships with Richmond.

“I don’t really check media anyway, so watching the documentary, some of the stuff that was put in there from the media was news to me anyway,” Carey said.

“(On) Instagram, as a professional sportsperson, you will cop some negativity that comes your way across your career. At the time, it was just a little bit more to myself and a few of the other guys.

“But you move on pretty quickly. You talk to the people you need to talk to. I had my wife over there to support as well. The playing group was outstanding, the leadership from Patty and Andrew McDonald.

“I also do a lot of work externally with a guy called Ben Crowe. You discuss, ‘Did you do anything wrong? No. Would you change it? No. Can you control what people say about it? No you can’t’.

“After all that discussion, you go out there and play again and move on.

“It is tough when it is ingrained in you (to want to be liked). But after talking to those people, you realise you can’t do much about it. I think I’ve learned to not be liked as much, which is absolutely fine.”

Stuart Broad was fuming at Carey. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

England’s move to snub post-series beers with the Aussies caused some uproar, but Carey doesn’t expect any lingering ill will from the English players.

“I haven’t played against them (since the Ashes) so I haven’t spoken to them, but that’s pretty natural,” he said.

“The games that followed, you shake their hand, you say g’day — it’s all pretty normal.

“I wouldn’t change anything from the last Ashes series and (I’m) looking forward to the ones ahead.”

A matchwinning knock of 98 not out against New Zealand in February cemented Carey’s spot in the Test team and silenced concerns over the stumping fallout had affected his game.

“I felt like my batting was going OK, it was just pushing on to a bigger score,” he said of his knock against Kiwis.

“To produce an innings like that to help win Australia a series along with Mitch Marsh was really pleasing.

“I don’t know if I missed out (on a big score), what would happen next. That’s out of my hands.

“But I felt like I’ve been really well supported and wanted in this team.”

Carey has cemented his spot in the Test side. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Carey has been replaced by Josh Inglis in Australia’s T20 and ODI teams, but alongside preparation for a five-Test series against India this summer, a return to the 50-over side is in his sights.

“I felt like my wicketkeeping has been really solid for a number years and I look forward to a huge series against India,” Carey said.

“It was really pleasing. I try to go out and play game the same way in terms of, ‘How can I help win Australia a game of cricket’ and really just focus on our team.

“To do that in the last innings before a bit of a break was pleasing.”

The third season of The Test will be released on Amazon Prime Video on May 24.

Originally published as Alex Carey addresses elephant in the room about infamous Ashes stumping