Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey's presence of mind and alertness has been a bittersweet pill for him as well as his team as even though his awareness got him the wicket of Jonny Bairstow, who wandered out of his crease with the ball being in play still but they have been on the receiving end of boos and chants of cheat from the English crowd after the happenings of Day 5 of the Lord's Ashes Test.
Bairstow misunderstood that the ball became dead as soon as he left the ball and it reached the keeper and strolled out of his crease only to see his stumps being shattered by Carey. The wicketkeeper was well within his rights to effect such stumping and the eventual decision stayed out leaving England fans, former cricketers and captain Ben Stokes fuming.
Now more than a day later since the incident, the former New Zealand cricketer Grant Elliott has shared a damning video proof that Bairstow left his crease on multiple occasions and that he was a repeat offender. As soon as he left a ball or ducked under a bouncer, Bairstow left his crease and strolled without checking either with the wicketkeeper or the umpire whether the ball has become dead or not and eventually lost his wicket to it.
Watch the video here:
Since the incident, the 'Spirit of Cricket' debate has fuelled by England skipper Stokes and he was followed by coach Brendon McCullum, English media and even the UK Prime Minister.
However, what Carey did was in the laws and was eventually given out, rightfully. England had hoped that Bairstow could do a repeat of his Edgbaston heroics last year against India but wasn't to be. Despite his dismissal, England were still in the game with Stokes going hell for leather before being dismissed on 155. England fell short by 43 runs and Australia are now 2-0 ahead in the five-match series.
