Pat Cummins has no regrets and insists he would do exactly the same again to Jonny Bairstow this week if the opportunity presents itself.
Even with time to reflect on the ‘stumping’ incident at Lord’s and consider the wider implications where the Spirit of Cricket is concerned, the Aussie skipper reckons Bairstow was simply bang to rights and he would never consider withdrawing his appeal.
No-one is disputing whether Bairstow was technically out or not, but the level of dismay from so many both in the ground and watching on has cut no ice with Cummins, who believes his side are beyond reproach. Asked if he would do the same again, Cummins replied: “Yep. At the moment I’m really comfortable with it.
“I think there’s issues that come up in every Ashes series where you have the same opinions, English fans think one thing, Australian fans think the opposite.
“I think the way our team’s conducted themselves over the last couple of years has been flawless really. We’ve been fantastic and I think that showed again on day five at Lord’s.
“I mean, there’s been talk this week about the underarm incident. I think it was in the 1970s. How far do you want to go back? We’ve all moved on. The team did nothing wrong so we’re all comfortable.”
Whether it was the Trevor Chappell underarm incident to deny New Zealand an ODI win, or the use of sandpaper to change the ball, or the Jonny Bairstow dismissal, they were all episodes involving Australia putting winning above all else.
It is what makes them so hard to beat, but it might also make them blinkered to the wider picture, even though Cummins reckons the Spirit of Cricket is something that he is fully behind.
“I 100 percent think it’s a real thing,” said Cummins. “I think at times there’s nuance to it, and everyone might see it a little bit differently. Which is fine, that’s part of it.
“But absolutely I think it’s one of the beauties of our sport, it’s a gentleman’s sport, you want to maintain respect for the opposition at all times, the umpires, the fans, the game, so I think it’s one of the strengths of our game. And I think our players were outstanding in that regard.”
After avoiding a second heist by Ben Stokes at Lord’s, Cummins returns to the scene of the first this week hoping for a different outcome to 2019 when he ended up delivering the final ball of a dramatic final day.
“I’ve seen it about 1000 times in the last four years,” he said. “It was a fantastic Test match and I’m sure it will come up. But we’ve moved past that.”
