With England five down, needing a further 178 runs to win, Bairstow ducked underneath a short ball from Cameron Green, scratched the crease with his boot and walked down the pitch towards his partner Ben Stokes at the non-striker’s end.
Bairstow glared at the Australian huddle as he walked off and boos rang out around Lord’s. The crowd – who have been largely subdued throughout the first four days of this Test – then chanted repeatedly: “Same old Aussies, always cheating.”
Per the Laws of the game, the ball was not dead. According to Law 20.1.2: “The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.” Clearly, Australia still regarded that the ball was in play.
“There was a huge sense of frustration but I can’t understand why. it’s complete naivety around what has happened with Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal. [It was] 100% out. I was on comms with Mark Taylor and he called it exactly right. In the balls leading up to his dismissal, this is just complete naivety. The ball is not dead at any stage and Jonny Bairstow leaves his crease. He’s obviously in his own little bubble, they are bowling short, bowling full, accurate bowling. Testing his defence. But you cannot do this, and it’s actually really smart from Alex Carey recognising what is going on. Bairstow’s in his own little world, and it’s an opportunity to take a wicket”
The needle continued even when play stopped for lunch. Broad clapped sarcastically towards Cummins and exchanged words with both Marnus Labuschagne and David Warner. Usman Khawaja was also pictured speaking to an MCC member in the Long Room as he walked back towards the dressing rooms.
There are several recent precedents for similar run-outs which have not resulted in appeals being withdrawn, including Ollie Pope’s to dismiss Colin de Grandhomme at Lord’s in June 2022 and more recently Muhammad Wasim’s dismissal at the World Cup Qualifier by Andy Balbirnie.