Ben Stokes insists England can still pull off an Ashes victory against the odds, after Jonny Bairstow’s controversial dismissal helped Australia take a 2-0 lead at a furious Lord’s.
In an unforgettable fifth day finish at the home of cricket, the tourists were heckled and booed from the field after wrapping up a 43-run success despite Stokes’ best efforts.
He hit a jaw-dropping 155, whipped into a six-hitting frenzy by Bairstow’s bizarre stumping by Alex Carey, but could not take his side all the way.
Carey threw down his fellow wicketkeeper’s stumps after Bairstow ducked a Cameron Green bouncer, tapped his bat behind the crease and began to walk down the pitch to chat with Stokes.
Bairstow felt the over had been completed, which would have rendered the ball dead, but Carey’s intervention was deemed to be within the laws of the game and the wicket stood.
Nearly 32,000 fans in the stands went apoplectic and things even took an angry turn in the usually polite confines of the Long Room, where Usman Khawaja and David Warner exchanged words with jeering members. Marylebone Cricket Club later suspended the membership of three individuals pending an investigation.
Stokes made it clear the manner of the Bairstow wicket left a bitter taste and suggested he may have withdrawn the appeal in similar circumstances.
“The first thing that needs to be said is that it is out. But would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no,” he said.
“If the shoe was on the other foot, I would have a deep think about the whole spirit of the game. If I was fielding captain at the time I would have put a lot more pressure on the umpires to ask them what their decision was around the (end of the) over.
“Jonny was in his crease, then left his crease to come out and have the conversation between overs like every batsman does. For Australia it was the matchwinning moment.”
With Australia also coming out on top in a tense finish in the series opener at Edgbaston, Stokes’ side now face the prospect of becoming the first England team since 2001 to lose a home Ashes.
To win the urn back they need to win at Headingley when battle resumes on Thursday and then do the same at Old Trafford and The Oval.
“All we’re thinking about is winning the series 3-2,” he said.
“We have to win these three games to get this urn back and we’re a team who are obviously willing to put ourselves out there and do things against the narrative.
“So, these next three games are an even better opportunity for us than we have ever found ourselves in before.”
Anticipating an even more feverish atmosphere in Leeds next week, Stokes added: “I definitely think it’s going to be ramped up.
“When we go to Australia we get lambasted as well – 90,000 Australians at the MCG cursing at you. That’s part of the sport we play, you get thousands of people who want their team to win and they’ll just jump on something.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins was visibly taken aback by the vitriolic reaction he experienced but made no apologies for the Bairstow wicket.
“It’s in the laws, totally fair play. That’s how I saw it,” he said.
“You see Jonny do it all the time, he did it day one to (David) Warner and in 2019 to Steve (Smith). It’s what keepers do if you see an opportunity. All credit to Carey, he rolled it at the stumps, Jonny left his crease and you leave the rest to the umpires.”
Babar's captain's innings leads Pakistan to victory as series drawn with New Zealand
Babar Azam top scored as he led his Pakistan team to a nine-run victory over New Zealand in Lahore that saw the five-game T20I series end in a draw.
Babar hit 69 runs off 44 balls before being bowled by Ben Sears, smashing six fours and two sixes to take his team to 123/3 at the time of his dismissal.
Fakhar Zaman (43 from 33) and Usman Khan (31 off 24) also chipped in with important innings as Pakistan ended on 178/5.
With a target of 179 to secure a 3-1 series victory, New Zealand's run chase faltered almost immediately as opener Tom Blundell was removed within the first over with his team having managed just five runs on the board.
Blundell's fellow opener Tim Seifert steadied the ship with a vital 52-run innings off 33 deliveries before being bowled by Usama Mir, but Shaheen Shah Afridi led the way for Pakistan, finishing with figures of 4-30 to stem the New Zealand run chase
Josh Clarkson's 38 off 26 set up a nervy conclusion, but Pakistan held on to avoid defeat in the T20 series as the teams share the spoils at two wins apiece after the first game was abandoned.
Bayern star Kane scores 400th senior goal
Harry Kane surpassed the 400-goal mark for his senior career as his double helped Bayern Munich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.
Kane moved within one of the milestone as he put Bayern 1-0 up after just nine minutes, coolly finishing from close range after Konrad Laimer's pass had set him up.
Then, after Frankfurt levelled through Hugo Ekitike, Kane slotted home a penalty with typical aplomb following a foul on Thomas Muller to move himself onto 400 career goals and ultimately lead Bayern to victory.
Kane scored 280 of his goals in 435 appearances for Tottenham, overtaking Jimmy Greaves to become the club's all-time leading scorer when he netted for the 267th time in Spurs colours against Manchester City last February.
His tally of 213 Premier League goals, meanwhile, puts him just 47 behind the competition's all-time leader Alan Shearer, who scored 260 times for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.
Kane is also the most prolific player in England's history, his 62 goals for the Three Lions coming in 89 international appearances.
He memorably missed the chance to surpass Wayne Rooney's previous record of 53 when he blazed a penalty over the crossbar in the Three Lions' quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup, only to clinch his place in history in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy three months later.
The very first goal of Kane's senior career came in League One during a loan spell with Leyton Orient as they thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 in January 2011.
That was the first of five goals Kane scored in O's colours, while he also netted nine times in a loan spell with Millwall in 2011-12 and twice during a stint with Leicester City the following season.
IPL: Fraser-McGurk leads the way as Capitals hold off Mumbai
Delhi Capitals withstood Mumbai Indian’s late surge and held on for a 10-run victory at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Jake Fraser-McGurk top-scored with 84 – hitting 50 off just 15 balls – while Tristan Stubbs (48) and Shai Hope (41) also chipped in with important contributions as the Capitals set a target of 258.
Mukesh Kumar (3/59) and Rasikh Salam (3/34) did their best to halt Mumbai’s revival, but they turned up the pressure to require 25 runs from the final over.
However, despite Luke Wood and Piyush Chawla’s best efforts, Delhi held out for a second successive win.
Data debrief
Wood almost made amends after conceding 68 runs during the opening innings – the joint-most in the IPL this season, matching Reece Topley’s tally against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Tilak Varma led Mumbai’s attempted revival with 63 for his sixth half-century in the IPL, though they have all come in defeats
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