The war of words between England and Australia legends continues with the legendary Mark Taylor citing cricket laws to support Pat Cummins and co after they faced the heat from a partisan crowd at Lord’s for dismissing Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow left his crease assuming that the ball was declared dead but Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey hit the wickets immediately to have the English batter stumped and it lead to a big controversy.
Writing in his column for the Sydney Morning Herald, Taylor reminded England out how stumping is just one of the several modes of dismissals and is necessary not effected by slow bowlers.
“The batsmen have to remember there are 10 ways to get out in Test cricket. One of them is by being stumped, and it doesn’t say in the laws it has to be off a slow bowler. If you’re going to wander out of your crease doing whatever you want to do, be mindful that you can be stumped,” the former Australia captain wrote.
“So, your job as a batsman is to get back in your crease until the ball is dead,” he added.
Taylor, who played 104 Tests and 113 ODIs between 1989 and 1999, says the Bairstow was stumped in a legitimate manner and he’s got no issues with how Australians went about it.
“I’ve got no issue at all with what Pat Cummins and the Australian team did during the last day of the Lord’s Test when they stumped Jonny Bairstow. It’s a legitimate form of dismissal and has been as long as I’ve known the game of cricket. I’ve seen many wicketkeepers throwing the ball towards the stumps to try and claim an unsuspecting batsman’s wicket,” Taylor wrote.
He then claimed how Bairstow was attempting to dismiss Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne earlier in the match in a similar situation and pointed out the current England head coach Brendon McCullum himself stumped Paul Collingwood similarly during his playing days.
“Jonny Bairstow found himself on the receiving end of a controversial stumping, but two days earlier tried to pull one off himself — the incident drawing parallels with England head coach Brendon McCullum when he stumped Paul Collingwood,” Taylor wrote.
“I can remember Rod Marsh throwing the ball towards the stumps off Dennis Lillee’s bowling, Ian Healy did the same thing when a batsman was out of his crease, we’ve seen Jonny Bairstow do it in the latest Test, I’ve seen footage of England coach Brendon McCullum doing it back in 2009. This sort of stuff has been going on for a long time,” added Taylor.
He then condemned how the Australian players were treated by the fans and MCC members in the aftermath.
“I’m disappointed with the way the Australian players were treated after completing this entirely legitimate dismissal, particularly in the Long Room (at Lord’s). I will congratulate Guy Lavender, CEO of the MCC, for getting onto it reasonably quickly, calming down the MCC members and suspending three of them. However, I think that’s the minimum amount they need to do at this stage,” Taylor wrote.
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