Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said that he was disappointed with his England counterpart Brendon McCullum’s comment of ‘not going to have a beer with Australians’ comments in response to the controversial Jonny Bairstow runout/stumping by Alex Carey.
As Ben Stokes was going great guns on day five of the second Ashes 2023 Test at the Lord’s, hitting Australian bowlers to all parts of the Lord’s ground, he was looking for a formidable partner at the other end and found one in Jonny Bairstow.
Batting on the score of 10, Bairstow ducked beneath Cameron Green’s harmless bouncer as England sought to reach 371 runs in the fourth inning. The hitter unintentionally strayed outside of his crease, and wicketkeeper Alex Carey under-armed the ball at the stumps right away.
Third umpire Marais Erasmus was asked to make the call, and he quickly ruled the player out.
Bairstow clearly disagreed, sharing his thoughts with the Australians grouped in their celebratory huddle, while non-striker Ben Stokes, England’s skipper, had words with his counterpart Pat Cummins.
After Australia won the Test by 43 runs despite Stokes’ 155-run knock, England coach Brendon McCullum reacted to the Bairstow controversy by saying that England players would not be socializing with Australian players anytime soon.
Speaking to Test Match Special, McCullum said: “I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer anytime soon, if that’s what you’re asking. From our point of view, we’ve got three Test matches to try and land some blows and try and win the Ashes and that’s where our focus will be.”
Haven’t Spoken To Him: Andrew McDonald On Brendon McCullum’s Statement
Following the contentious stumping of Jonny Bairstow on the final day at Lord’s, Australia coach Andrew McDonald was “disappointed” by his counterpart Brendon McCullum’s statement that the teams would not be sharing a beer.
When the comment was relayed to McDonald, he said: “I haven’t spoken to him, [have] heard that comment for the first time, and somewhat disappointed by that.”
McDonald, meanwhile, did not see the Bairstow stumping as any different to other forms of dismissal when a batter was out of his ground.
“There’s no doubt when a player is leaving their crease or leaving their ground at certain periods of time that you take that opportunity. It’s [the same] with every player. It’s like when a player is running down the wicket to Nathan Lyon, does he take the opportunity to fire a ball down leg side, because he’s leaving his crease? There’s no doubt about that. You see a run-out opportunity at point, you throw at the bowler’s end.
But any of these events are always going to polarise opinion. We saw it on day four with the [Mitchell Starc] catch as well. Some people thought it was out, some people thought it was not out… sometimes, you know, not everyone agrees with it,” McDonald was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
The third Test between the two sides will begin on July 6 onwards at the Headingley in Leeds.