‘Nice to see’: Reaction to classy cricket act proves Piers Morgan still isn’t over Australia

Piers Morgan just couldn’t resist taking yet another salty dig at Australia when a moment of sportsmanship caught his eye.

Piers Morgan couldn’t resist opening some old wounds about the “spirit of cricket” following an excellent show of sportsmanship in the T20 Blast over the weekend.

In Hampshire’s match against Kent at the Rose Bowl, Hampshire bowler Chris Wood earned himself plenty of fans when he opted not to run out a batsman reeling in pain.

In the second last ball of the innings, Wood bowled a full delivery to Joey Evison, who smashed it straight into teammate Matt Parkinson at the non-striker’s end.

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The ball appeared to hit Parkinson on the chest and arm, and he fell to the turf in agony.

With Parkinson languishing several metres out of his crease, Wood theoretically could have knocked off the bails and run him out.

But the bowler wasn’t tempted to commit a controversial dismissal, instead calmly walking back to his mark to the applause of the crowd.

“Oh he’s hit Parkinson with the ball,” the commentator said.

“It’s been absolutely thundered back at the non-striker, hit him on the left arm.

“They hadn’t run him out, I think that’s the applause for Chris Wood because Parkinson hit the turf really hard clutching his left elbow.”

Evison scored a boundary of the final ball, setting Hampshire 166 to win. Parkinson was able to bowl, taking figures of 1/21 off four overs, but Hampshire won by three wickets.

Matt Parkinson was absolutely clobbered. Photo: X.

England’s Barmy shared footage of the moment on social media, writing: “The Spirit of Cricket. A very important part of our game…”

Morgan didn’t miss his chance, re-sharing the vision with a pointed message: “Nice to see. Cc @cricketaus.”

The UK commentator was clearly referring to Alex Carey’s controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in last year’s Ashes when the England wicketkeeper wandered out of his crease.

The bowler chose not to run him out. Photo: X.

The stumping at the second Test at Lord’s was the flashpoint of the Ashes, infuriating England, sparking their comeback and prompting the Poms to claim a 2-2 series result was a moral victory.

Carey has said he has no regrets whatsoever, describing his underarm throw as a “sharp piece of work”.

“I think the stumping will be discussed for years to come,” Carey told news.com.au.

“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.

“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.”

Jonny Bairstow gets run out by Alex Carey in last year’s Ashes. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

In the newly released third season of the Prime Video documentary The Test, Aussie squad member Marcus Harris opened up on an encounter that took place on the boundary line with a fired up local.

“They were kicking off over the fence and I was like you wrote the rules you f***ing idiot, it’s not our fault,” he said as the rest of the Aussies erupt.

The fire was still raging for Bairstow as he walked into the lunch room and came face-to-face with the Aussies.

But it was Pat Cummins who delivered the parting shot when recalling Broad’s comment after he had strolled out to the wicket.

“He said ‘that’s what you’ll be remembered for, I can’t believe you’ve done that’ and I’m like oh Broady because you’re such an upstanding citizen mate aren’t ya,” Cummins says.

Originally published as ‘Nice to see’: Reaction to classy cricket act proves Piers Morgan still isn’t over Australia