Aussie cricket stars fuel Ashes powderkeg by laughing and poking fun at England over one of the biggest scandals in the countries' long rivalry

Australia’s cricket stars have added fuel to the Ashes powderkeg by laughing at England’s Jonny Bairstow for his controversial dismissal at Lord’s during the 2023 series.

Tempers boiled over during England’s second innings at the Home of Cricket after pantomime villain Alex Carey stumped the former Test wicketkeeper who had bizarrely chosen to step out of his crease.

The flashpoint soured relationships between both sides, with Ben Stokes’ team claiming Australia’s decision not to rescind the stumping was not in the spirit of cricket. The tourists thought otherwise. Over had not been called with Pat Cummins’ side adamant that it was a fair dismissal.

With just nine days until these two sides meet again at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Aussie players, including Usman Khawaja and Josh Hazlewood, have relived the infamous moment and have poked fun at Bairstow and England, while recounting how the dismissal unfolded from their perspective.

‘I just laugh because he just walks straight out of his crease,’ Khawaja said, chuckling as he watched the clip during an interview with Fox Cricket.

‘It was fair game,’ the opening batsman admitted. ‘The execution of Alex Carey was unbelievable.’

He paused for a moment and laughed unsympathetically.

The Queensland batsman then noted that Bairstow had tried to get him out in a similar manner during the opening Test in Birmingham.

‘The funny thing was, Jonny was trying to get me out stumped the same way against the spinner in the first game at Edgbaston,’ he continued.

‘Against the spinner, I almost lost my footing and Jonny was waiting there for six seconds.

‘Keepers are sneaky, they know what’s going on.’

‘We couldn’t have done that if Jonny wasn’t doing it every ball... you’re going to get stumped here,’ he added.

On reflection, Hazlewood commented on how bizarre the moment was, before firing a jibe at Bairstow for taking his eye off the ball.

‘I’ve seen it done a handful of times growing up over the years, obviously never in a Test match,’ Josh Hazlewood said.

He would go on to criticise Bairstow for taking his eye off the ball.

‘I’ve seen it done at school cricket, club cricket, going through the year. I remember a few keepers getting away with it.

‘Pretty lazy from Jonny, and we took advantage, I guess.’

The decision sent the Lord’s crowd into uproar, with multiple Australian players being heckled and abused by members of the crowd, including some in the famous Long Room. Three MCC members were subsequently banned in the fallout.

There was outcry from many around the UK, with the former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even chiming in to lambast Cummins’ side for a lack of sportsmanship.

‘It’s out every day of the week,’ Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon added during the interview with Fox Cricket.

‘Brilliant work from Alex... absolutely brilliant.’

Glenn Maxwell, meanwhile, agreed with Hazlewood, stating that Bairstow’s ‘laziness’ cost him.

Glenn Maxwell said: ‘I tell you what, that was bloody good from Alex Carey.

‘For him to pick it up as clean as he did... because it was an awkward take... for it to bounce in front of him and in one movement go straight to underarm - it worked out beautifully. It was actually just brilliant. It was so good.

‘It was lazy to just wander out of your crease and not have the awareness of what’s going on.’

He added: ‘The funny thing is, Bairstow has done that to a lot of batters. It wasn’t like it was out of the blue...’

After the series, Bairstow stated that he had ‘moved on’ from the controversial moment, but still took a moment to shoot a barb back at Australia.

‘The decision was that I was out, and I moved on,’ Bairstow said.

‘I’ve not brought it up since. I’ve kept quiet. It’s on them. If that’s how they want to go about it and win a cricket game or what have you, then so be it.’

While England would go on to lose the match, both Joe Root and Stokes have sided with the Australians, claiming it was a fair dismissal.

But the moment left a bitter taste in the mouth of some English players.

‘Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no,’ Stokes had said.

Cameron Green’s comments on the incident were perhaps the most interesting, with the Aussie star, who had bowled the delivery, telling Fox Cricket that perhaps he would have liked not to have been involved in the incident.

‘The only thing I can really comment on was that I got the Test stumping. I’m going to stay clear and just... yeah, have a bit of fun with it.

‘As a fast bowler, you kind of hope you never get a Test stumping.

‘So... unfortunately, I was involved in that in some way.’

Carey ready to play the villain again

Tensions between both sides have been gradually building ahead of the upcoming series, with former England pace bowler Stuart Broad stoking the flames by claiming that this was the ‘worst Australian team since 2010.’

 Australia are sweating on the fitness of bowlers Hazlewood and Sean Abbott, who both underwent scans on Wednesday, with it looking likely that the latter will miss the first Test. Australia will also be without their captain Pat Cummins for the first Test, after he was ruled out with a back injury.

Carey was pressed on Broad’s comments last month, before hitting back at the Sky Sports pundit.

'Is that what he said, did he? We'll wait and see,' Carey said.

'We've got a really experienced cricket team who have had a lot of success over the last three, four years, five years under Patty Cummins.

'To win a World Test Championship, to retain the Ashes over there, and to make another World Test Championship last year was pretty good recognition for the success that this team has had.

'All the guys have played against Stuart in the past, and we know how big a competitor he is and how much he's done for Test cricket. When you see players transition into the media, they're absolutely open to their opinions and the playing group doesn't hold any comments against anyone.'

Carey is also relishing the arrival of the Barmy Army Down Under, stating that he wants to get back in the thick of the action.

‘It's going to be exciting... the Barmy Army, I think I've seen a few chants come through already, which is great,’ he said.

‘That sort of stuff just, it's in the history of the game, it will get spoken about forever. But as a player and as a playing group, you want to be in those big moments.’