Stumping drama fires up Stokes, Lord’s Ashes Test

Scott Bailey | July 2, 2023

The final day of the Lord’s Ashes Test has become engulfed in drama after England star Jonny Bairstow was stumped when walking out of his crease on the last ball of an over.

England went to lunch on 6-243 in pursuit of 371, with a fired-up Ben Stokes flying to a century and cutting the required runs down to 128 after his team were enraged over Bairstow’s dismissal.

Bairstow ducked a Cameron Green ball and almost immediately walked out of his crease, believing the ball was dead at the end of that over.

Wicketkeeper Alex Carey caught the ball and under-armed it back towards the stumps, with Bairstow exiting his crease just after it had left Carey’s gloves.

The ball hit the wicket and Australia appealed, with third-umpire Marais Erasmus ruling it out given Bairstow was out of his ground.

England captain Stokes entered Australia’s huddle to talk to Pat Cummins during the deliberation and appeared to remonstrate with the on-field umpires while an angry Bairstow walked off.

The decision prompted a chorus of boos that continued to ring out around Lord’s for the final 25 minutes of the session, along with chants of “Same old Aussies, always cheating”.

Stuart Broad was also animated after arriving at the crease, gesturing in the direction of both Cummins and Marnus Labuschagne.

Australia did have the support of former England captain Michael Atherton in Sky Sports’ commentary, who labelled it “dozy cricket” from Bairstow.

The wicket has the potential to turn the second Test, after England made a solid start to the day following their resumption on 4-114.

Stokes in particular hit out after the wicket, swinging hard and trying to control the strike in a bid to repeat his heroics of Headingley in 2019.

The England captain went to lunch unbeaten on 108, having added 46 in 21 balls after Bairstow’s wicket.

He did offer one tough chance, put down by Cummins just before the break when he whacked one back at the quick off his own bowling.

Ben Duckett had earlier helped give England hope on Sunday morning, when he went from his overnight score of 50 to 83 as part of a 132-run stand with Stokes.

The two started the day in impressive fashion, with Duckett pulling Cummins for a four early and Stokes flicking and driving Mitchell Starc to the boundary on two consecutive balls.

But Duckett eventually fell to a smart bit of keeping from Carey, who took up a legside guard for one Josh Hazlewood ball, watched Duckett glove a hook shot, and leapt high in the air to take a one handed catch.

A win for Australia would give them a 2-0 lead in the series, a point from which England have never recovered from to win the Ashes.