Australia head coach Andrew McDonald is “disappointed” by his England counterpart Brendon McCullum’s feedback following Jonny Bairstow’s controversial stumping that has turn into a flash level of the Ashes sequence.
After the second Test, which England misplaced by 43 runs, McCullum stated the dismissal – which was adopted by a heated alternate between few MCC members and Australian openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner — will affect the relations between the 2 groups.
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“I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer any time soon. 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,” the England red-ball coach stated on Sunday.
McDonald, nevertheless, was not happy with the previous New Zealand skipper’s perspective.
“I haven’t spoken to him. I’ve heard that comment for the first time, and I’m somewhat disappointed by that,” McDonald advised reporters on Monday.
After ducking a gradual bouncer from Cameron Green, Bairstow had instantly left his crease to have a chat with Ben Stokes within the center, believing that the ball was ‘dead’.
However, wicketkeeper Alex Carey performed throughout the guidelines and broke the stumps and third umpire Marais Erasmus gave a choice in favour of Australia.
Baristow’s dismissal has opened a debate with the likes of McCullum and England skipper Stokes saying it was not within the spirit of the sport.
The MCC’s Laws of Cricket 20.1.2 state: “The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.” “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,” McDonald stated.
“I think Pat relayed that in the after-match that there was some conversation around Jonny leaving the crease and Alex Carey took that opportunity and the ball’s still live in our minds.” “It got sent upstairs and ultimately, the officiating third umpire decides it’s out, it’s within the laws of the game. So yeah, I don’t see too many issues with it, to be perfectly honest,” he added.
For McDonald, it was like another type of dismissal.
“It’s 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?” McDonald stated.
“There’s no doubt about that. You see a run-out opportunity at point, you throw at the bowler’s end. And luckily, Marnus actually hit the stumps when (Ben) Duckett was on his way to 100. So he took that opportunity, thought he was out of his ground.
“So yeah, I think anytime that a player leaves their ground, you take that opportunity.
“I think the deliberation that potentially was being discussed out there was the fact that whether it was called over or not, I think that’s where sort of Ben (Stokes) was discussing with the players out on the field.
“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.
“So, these types of events are interpreted as part of the laws. And sometimes not everyone agrees with it.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com