England star Joe Root has delivered a stinging truth bomb to teammate Jonny Bairstow on the anniversary of his controversial Ashes dismissal last year.
In a moment that ignited the Test series, Bairstow was given out stumped after leaving his crease, allowing Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey to throw the stumps down.
The incident divided the cricket world, with some claiming it was poor sportsmanship from Carey, while others were of the belief it was smart work from the Aussies.
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And now, in a surprising twist, Root spoke about the dismissal during a new documentary series titled The Ashes 2023: Our Take, which goes behind the scenes with the England camp during the blockbuster five-game series.
“Initially I was quite angry, but I think when you’re involved in the game it’s very difficult to put yourself in the other position,” the former captain said.
“I’d like to say I would have dealt with it differently, but I could very easily have done the same thing. At the end of the day it’s within the laws of the game.
“You should be aware as a player. Jonny will hate me saying this, but if you stay in your crease, you can’t get given out can you?”
Bairstow’s dismissal at Lord’s led to ugly scenes in the crowd, with one member given a life ban and two others suspended for abusing the Aussie players.
The 34-year-old, who was this week axed from the Test squad to face the West Indies, gave a diplomatic response when asked about the incident in the docuseries.
“Who knows whether it was right or wrong, or anything in between,” Bairstow said.
“We’re out there representing ourselves, and as long as you can go home and be all right with yourself then so be it.”
Stuart Broad was another player in the midst of the chaos, giving a gobful to a number of Australian players, but admitted there was some ‘performative’ elements at play.
”It was genuine anger and red mist for about ten minutes,” he said.
“I can’t really remember what I was saying, I had lost the plot. I kept up this sort of pantomime performance for about three hours. I carried on doing my petulant nonsense.
“This ignited the series. This is what we wanted – the fans are properly with us here.”
The series would ultimately end in a 2-2 draw, allowing the Aussies to retain the urn.