Ashes : Bairstow out ! and Juhu remark !!

Very well remember that test at Wankhede - Dec 1 1981 –   India won by 138 runs. Fine bowling by Kapil Dev and Madan Lal on the fourth morning gave India a big win in what had been a close match. The Test ended  50 minutes after lunch that day 

Cricket called gentlemen’s game was invented by England and rules were framed by them !!!!! 

In Ashes – Australia went 2-0 up !!  Australia survived an anger-fuelled and astonishing century from Ben Stokes, ignited by the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow, to take a 43-run victory at Lord's and hold a 2-0 lead in the Ashes. The visitors had been in control of the Lord's Test for long periods but then everything changed on the final day 

It was - 51.6 another half-tracker, YJB ducked it, walked out of his crease to talk to his partner... and Carey then underarmed into the stumps! The Australians celebrated, Bairstow looked befuddled – in UK it was flashpoint, immediately they started calling Aussies cheaters !!   to them, the batter clearly considered that the ball was dead, but Marais Erasmus had to think twice and give it out !! 

It was boos around the ground as Bairstow started walking  back to the dressing room. He wasn't attempting to take a run, but the ball wasn't dead either - at least as far as the umpires are concerned, which is the key factor . England were left fuming by Australia's decision not to withdraw their appeal for the stumping of Jonny Bairstow before lunch on the fifth day of the Ashes Test at Lord's. 

With England five down, needing a further 178 runs to win, Bairstow ducked underneath a short ball from Cameron Green, scratched the crease with his boot and walked down the pitch towards his partner Ben Stokes at the non-striker's end. Before Bairstow had begun to leave his ground, wicketkeeper Alex Carey had gathered the ball on the bounce and, in one motion, under-armed a throw at stumps at the striker's end. The standing umpires, Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney, referred the decision to TV umpire Marais Erasmus as replays showed Bairstow was some way out of his crease.

Bairstow glared at the Australian huddle as he walked off and boos rang out around Lord's. The crowd - who have been largely subdued throughout the first four days of this Test - then chanted repeatedly: "Same old Aussies, always cheating." 

Per the Laws of the game, the ball was not dead. According to Law 20.1.2: "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." Clearly, Australia still regarded that the ball was in play.

 

"Carey doesn't wait for Bairstow to walk out," Mark Taylor, the former Australian captain, said on Sky Sports. "He's going to do that regardless. It doesn't look good and people aren't going to be happy about it, but it's the right decision." Mike Atherton, the former England captain, described the dismissal as "dozy cricket from Bairstow, and costly cricket". Eoin Morgan was even more emphatic on the lunch time show. "I've been here since I was a 13-year-old and I'm looking at playing my whole career here, and I've never seen scenes like that, particularly in the long room nevermind all the way around the ground," he said.

 

Well Morgan perhaps does not know or remember that Test in India in 1981 when England lost – at Wankhede

 

This is almost 42 years ago ! ~ of the real dazzler – Krishnamachari Srikkanth, whom I adored and followed fanatically. He was unconventional, not so consistent ~ still ended up making …. 4091 runs in One dayers and 2062 in Test Cricket.  He made 4 centuries at which point, he was the one with highest no. of centuries in One day for India – far cry when Sachin retired with 49 one day centuries under his belt.

 

In 1981, in Nov  against Ian Botham and RGD Willis, Krish Srikkanth made his debut and failed to open his account in first essay.  Kapil Dev and Madan Lal polished England with 5 wickets apiece in 2nd innings for a famous Indian win.   Earlier in Indian 2nd innings, dashing opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth – fended one to the slips, started walking towards the leg umpire in his usual manner,  John Emburey saw an opportunity, threw the stumps down !  claimed and  Srikkanth was given out.  Clearly, clearly, there was no run and Srikkanth was not attempting one either, he had the habit of walking sidewards towards the leg Umpire that proved costly. 

What was legitimate for Englishmen in 1981 is sour today, when Aussies returned them the same favour !! 

 – Sunil Gavaskar openly admonished Cheeka and there was the remorseless remark on commentary from Pataudi  that ‘this boy should learn that this is no  Juhu beach to go for a walking’.

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
2^nd July 2023.