Brendon McCullum
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
England cricket coach Brendon McCullum has warned Australia that his side have been galvanised by Jonny Bairstow’s controversial dismissal on day five of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.
Believing the ball to be dead and the over to have concluded, Bairstow left his ground as wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw at the stumps and was given out.
Australia went on to win by 43 runs and now lead the five-Test series 2-0.
“I don’t know if it’s anger but the unit is galvanised,” said McCullum.
Bowler Stuart Broad, who was the next man in when Bairstow was dismissed, told umpire Ahsan Raza it was the “worst thing” he had “ever seen on a cricket field”.
He then bravely batted through a barrage of short-pitch bowling for just shy of two hours, while captain Ben Stokes, who made an Ashes-best 155, attacked at the other end.
Stokes later said he would have withdrawn the appeal, saying he would not want to win in that matter, but Australia skipper Pat Cummins thought it was “fair play”.
“There are times as a coach where you’ve got to reduce emotion because it’s going to bubble over and you can make poor decisions, but there’s times when you allow emotion to go because it’s going to galvanise the unit,” said McCullum.
“That’s what I felt this emotion did for the side. I looked around the group and the guys were a little upset.
“If that helps us to win those key moments in the next Test, then I’m all for it.”
Jonny Bairstow is stumped by Alex Carey
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
England now face the daunting prospect of trying to overturn a 2-0 series deficit for the first time.
The third Test starts at Headingley on Thursday before a nine-day break ahead of the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford from 19 July.
They lost the opening game at Edgbaston by two wickets and have had opportunities to get on top in both Tests but have been unable to hammer home their superiority in key moments.
Despite that, McCullum is confident England can still win the series, saying 3-2 “has got a nice ring to it”.
“We’ve got to polish up a couple of the areas where the game has sat on a knife-edge and we haven’t been able to grab it,” said McCullum.
“We do talk a lot about being able to absorb pressure, identifying when the time is to put pressure back on, being courageous enough to do so.
“There’s times when you will get it wrong, you can’t play the perfect game. All we will encourage guys to do is make the decisions that they feel are right at that point in time.
“I don’t think we are far away – the margins of the Test matches suggest that.
“We have to make sure morale stays high, the unit is galvanised and we adapt to conditions we are presented with at Headingley as quickly as we can.
“If we do that, we will give ourselves the best chance.”
*This story was first published by BBC
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