Ian Bell feels Jonny Bairstow has only himself to blame for his controversial stumping in the Lord’s Ashes Test, but also added that Australia would have probably withdrawn the appeal if they knew it was “more trouble than it’s worth”.
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Twelve years ago, Bell found himself in the middle of a run out controversy, when the India fielders appealed for a dismissal him during the Nottingham Test. Just before tea, an Eoin Morgan shot had been stopped short of the boundary line, with everyone seemingly assuming it had gone for four. Bell walked off with his batting partner, but the ball was thrown back, with one of the fielders received it and disturbing the stumps.
“I was unbeaten on 137,” Bell recalled, speaking to Betfair. “The slips picked up the helmets and started walking off. The umpires started handing back jumpers. Unfortunately, the ball wasn’t dead. It hadn’t gone for four. A throw came in and with me heading back to the pavilion for Trent Bridge’s finest, the bails were whipped off.
“Well, I felt sick. Instinctively I knew it was my fault. I wasn’t trying to gain an advantage but I had just switched off.”
Bell was deemed run out, but over the break, India, led by MS Dhoni, decided to withdraw their appeal, described by Bell as “some gesture”.
On the Lord’s incident last week, Bell said that Bairstow would have been kicking himself for his “poor concentration”, having wandered off too early from his crease.
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“So first of all, Jonny will know that it’s on him. After all was said and done after defeat on day five he would have gone back to his hotel room, closed the door, looked in the mirror and said to himself: that’s my mistake.
“In the heat of the moment, with the crowd riled and his team-mates angry about what had occurred he may have been feeling aggrieved. But once everything has cooled off, I suspect he will be bitterly disappointed that a moment of poor concentration has been so costly.
“If he had just looked behind, to see what Alex Carey was up to there would’ve been no issue.”
However, Bell also noted that Bairstow wasn’t trying to take any advantage, dissimilar to Bairstow’s own attempt to catch Marnus Labuschagne outside his crease, a clip of which is now doing the rounds. He added that Australia’s Lord’s win will be “remembered for the wrong reasons”.
“I have no issue with the decision to give him out though. The rules are clear. It was out. Whether Australia should have withdrawn the appeal is up for debate though.
“What is a shame for the Australians is that this win will be remembered for this incident, rather than the really impressive cricket they played, when conditions were against them for the majority of the time.
“If I was Pat Cummins I would like to think that I would have had the feeling that it would be more trouble than it’s worth and withdrawn the appeal. I’m sure Ben Stokes probably asked him: ‘are you sure you want to go down this route?’.
“Perhaps if Australia knew the reaction they would get he would have said ‘actually, Jonny, that’s just a warning. But next time…'”
