Merv Hughes has said that players in the teams he was featured in were more intelligent not to be stumped like Jonny Bairstow was in the Lord’s Test. However, Bairstow was stumped by Alex Carey in England’s second innings of the second Test against Australia at Lord’s where they eventually lost the game by 43 runs as well.
During an interaction on the SEN podcast ‘Breakfast with Pat and Heals’, Hughes said: “I don’t think so because teams I have been in, they have got probably more intelligent players. They respect the game and wouldn’t leave the crease. Heals (Ian Healy), in a situation like that you are standing behind the stumps, you see a batter leave the crease three times before the final ball is bowled, ball is bounced to you, what do you do?”
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“Do you just let it go or would you make a statement? Probably nine times out of ten the ball misses the stumps but Alex Carey is a genius, he has hit the stumps. To me, it’s black and white, there is no grey area. Everyone says it’s against the rules of the game but to be honest, if you are a batter, if you don’t want to get stumped or run out, stay in your crease, as easy as that,” he further added.
However, he added that Jonny Bairstow himself was looking to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne similarly in Australia’s first innings as well.
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“They have come out and said we wouldn’t have upheld the appeal, it’s unsportsmanlike, but if you have a look at Jonny Bairstow in the first innings, he had a go at Marnus Labuschagne, trying to throw the stumps down. Are you telling me if that hits the stumps, England are going to say – ‘No, no, it’s alright, Marnus you keep batting’,” he concluded.
