Jonny Bairstow ‘Routine’ Exposes Reason Behind Alex Carey Stumping. Watch

England wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow has been in the headlines ever since his controversial dismissal on Day 5 of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. Alex Carey‘s decision to throw the ball at the stumps while Bairstow was still in his crease gave Australia a big reward, in the form of the English batter’s wicket. While there remains a ‘spirit of cricket’ debate around the dismissal, the letter of the law allowed what happened on the field. Now, a video has emerged highlighting Bairstow’s ‘routine’ that prompted Carey to throw the ball at the stumps.

In the video, it is quite visible that Bairstow had developed a habit of leaving the crease after the ball was going past him. Technically, the batter has to either inform the umpire or the keep that he is leaving the crease before he does so. But, the England wicket-keeper batter was doing so at his own will.

Seeing the pattern in Bairstow’s movement, Carey took a chance and hit the jackpot. Here’s the video:

Best video I have seen of the routine Bairstow has after leaving a delivery.
Hmmmm I know what I would have done as captain. Thoughts? #AUSvsENG pic.twitter.com/QTnoLWRHIQ

— Grant Elliott (@grantelliottnz) July 3, 2023

Reacting to the dismissal, even India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had said that the wicket-keeper (Carey) must have seen a pattern that prompted him to throw the ball at Bairstow’s stumps.

“We must get one fact loud and clear.’The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a test match unless he or his team have noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball like Bairstow did.’

“We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game,” Ashwin had said on the matter.

With the third Ashes Test on the horizon, England veteran Joe Root said that the team needs to move on from the controversy and aim for a comeback in the next three matches of the series.