Australian wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey opined on how he and his family were subjected to online abuse by England fans, which eventually saw an investigation from Cricket Australia’s cyber police. He came under the radar after dismissing England’s Jonny Bairstow in a controversial way during the Lord’s Test in the 2023 Ashes. Carey faced different reactions for the rest of the series by the English crowd, particularly at Leeds, where a section of fans even removed their shoes upon his arrival at the crease.
Carey shared that the backlash was severe following the Bairstow incident and he had to delete his Instagram account for a long time as well. He told Australian media outlets: “There was a lot of nasty comments that came my way, or came the family’s way, so post incident it was pretty aggressive and something new as well. I haven’t had that animosity come my way so that was new. It’s not uncommon for us players to receive these, but there was just a few more on this occasion.”
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Alex Carey further added: “I didn’t really look into it much, I didn’t have to. I had a lot of people looking at it and monitoring it. You don’t really need to see them. A lot of comments got deleted. It did get pretty nasty from reports. Initially again, if your wife jumps online and you see (you) getting abused or even them getting abused for being your wife and kids, you probably don’t take it too well. But 24 hours or 48 hours after that, things simmer down and you understand you’ve done nothing wrong and nothing changes. I actually deleted Instagram for a week or so and just put the phone down and focused on being present with the family.”
However, his presence of mind has not only been backed by his captain Pat Cummins, but also by the rule book of the game. He threw the ball at the stumps quickly when Bairstow left the crease even when the ball was not dead as well.
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“It’s a stumping and I would always try and get a stumping if it’s available. I think the only thing that makes it somewhat questionable if you want to say that, it was the end of the over. So there might be people having their say on Jonny maybe thought it was the end of the over. But the trend was shown throughout that over (with Bairstow leaving his crease). Once it goes up to the third umpire and they deem it to be still live (the umpires had not called over), then that’s how I determine spirit of cricket. Respect the umpire’s decision,” Alex Carey concluded.
