Rishi Sunak adds to Australia pile-on, says actions not in the ‘spirit of cricket’

Key PointsMr Sunak has accused Australia of not playing in the spirit of cricket.He was unhappy with Australia stumping Jonny Bairstow.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commended the Australian men’s and women’s cricket teams for their opening match victories against England.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accused Australia of breaching the spirit of cricket, adding to the national pile-on over the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping.

What happened at the Ashes?

Australian Alex Carey stumped Bairstow when the England player walked out of his crease at the end of the over, with debate following about whether Australia followed the spirit of the game.

Australia are bracing

at Headingley this week, after their dramatic 43-run win at Lord’s gave them a 2-0 lead in the series.

British media have laid the boot into Australia with several references to the word “cheat” on front and back pages.

Both the Daily Express and Metro ran with a “Just Not Cricket” headline, while London’s Telegraph labelled it an “underhand dismissal”.

What have England said about the dismissal?

Both England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum hit out at Australia in the dramatic postscript to Sunday’s dramatic finish, saying they would have withdrawn the appeal.

Mr Sunak has now backed the pair’s claims, with a spokesperson for his office telling reporters in the UK that he was unhappy with Australia stumping Bairstow after he ducked a ball and wandered out of his crease.

Britain’s Prince William (right) speaks to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (centre) as Prince George eats pizza in their box during the second Ashes cricket test match between England and Australia at Lord’s, London on Saturday. Source: AAP / Mike Egerton/AP

“The prime minister agrees with Ben Stokes. He said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did,” a spokesman for Mr Sunak’s office said.

“The game did provide an opportunity to see Ben Stokes at his best and it was an incredible Test match and he has confidence England will bounce back at Headingley.”

When asked whether Mr Sunak believed Australia had not upheld the spirit of cricket, his spokesperson said: “Yes.”

What has Australia said about the Ashes controversy?

Australia has defended the stumping, adamant Bairstow himself has thrown the ball back at the wickets while wicketkeeping in the same Test.

They also believe a decision on whether the ball was dead at the end of the over is one for the umpires, and that there was no trickery involved.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commended the Australian men’s and women’s cricket teams for their opening match victories against England in the Ashes.

“Same old Aussies – always winning,” he posted on Twitter.

Mr Sunak’s views are at odds with several former players, with former England captains Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan among those defending Australia.

India star Ravichandran Ashwin has also backed Australia’s actions, having himself been involved in cricket controversies.

“The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a Test match unless he or his team have noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball like Bairstow did,” Ashwin posted on social media.

“We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game.”

But former Test cricketer Sir Geoffrey Boycott used his column in the Telegraph to call for Australia to apologise on Monday.

“Australia need to have a think about what they did and make a full public apology,” Boycott wrote.

“If you want to win at all costs then cricket should not be for you. We want people to play hard and fair but surely there are standards to uphold?

“When batsmen are not trying to take an advantage then you should not follow the letter of the law. Apply some common sense.”

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