season three

On Day Five: Australia skipper Pat Cummins’ role in wicketkeeper Alex Carey’s dramatic stumping of England batter Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s last year has been revealed in the third season of The Test documentary. On Day Five of the Lord’s Test, Bairstow was on 10 and England were at 193/5 in the 52nd over when he ducked a bouncer from Cameron Green and inadvertently walked out of his crease. On seeing that, Carey immediately directed an underarm throw after catching the delivery and jumped for joy after firing an accurate throw toward the stumps.

It led to chaos in the middle as Bairstow believed the ball was dead, with Australia immediately going for an appeal. On-field umpires Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney sent the decision upstairs, where TV umpire Marais Erasmus confirmed Bairstow’s dismissal. On seeing the out decision, the Australian players celebrated while the crowd began to chant “same old Aussies, always cheating”, leading to the ‘spirit of cricket’ debate being reignited all over again.

Before leaving the crease, Bairstow and captain Ben Stokes exchanged words with Australian players, with the duo clearly not happy with the decision.