England head coach Brendon McCullum was clearly not happy with the run out of their wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow in the crucial moment of the game which sparked a wide range of controversy and the chances of England chasing down the historic total in Lord’s on the final day of the second test.
Jonny Bairstow was seen walking down the crease on numerous occasions in the 2nd innings, even though he was not looking for a run, Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey collected the ball behind the stumps of Cameron Green’s bowling to implement a run out at the striker end to dismiss the important batter of English lineup on Sunday.
In a discussion with the Broadcaster, Brendon McCullum was utterly disappointed by the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow as he stated that the team would not have a beer with the Australian team any team soon and wanted to give a good fight in the next three games to win the series.
“I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer with them any time soon. We have three Tests to land some blows and try to win the Ashes. That is where our focus will be,” Brendon McCullum said.
Ben Stokes batted brilliantly in the 2nd innings playing a counter-attacking knock on the final day to help his side reach closer to the massive target of 371 runs but could not find support from the other end barring Ben Duckett and Stuart Broad as other batters were dismissed cheaply in the 2nd-second innings.
We Might’ve Made A Different Decision – Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum admitted that the team has to play within the rules of the game and reckons that if they were in the same position as the Aussies they would have changed their mind to call back the batter to play again. Earlier English skipper Ben Stokes spoke on the spirit of the game, stating that he doesn’t want to win the game in that manner.
“In the end, you’ve got to live with the decisions you make, and that’s life, But I feel from our point of view, if we were in the same situation, we might’ve made a different decision,” Brendon McCullum added.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum will have a lot of things to discuss and decide in the forthcoming days to decide their team combination going into the next three games. England will take on Australia in the third test starting on Thursday in Headingley.