Former England batter believes Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal in second Ashes Test is ‘just as plain as day out’

Former England opener Mark Butcher is puzzled over Jonny Bairstow’s controversial dismissal during Day 5 of the second Ashes Test at the Lords Cricket Ground. Butcher said that ‘it’s just as clear as day out’ and all the chat about the subject in the cricketing fraternity is “nonsense”.

Shortly ahead of lunch on Day 5 on Sunday, Bairstow, who was England’s one of last recognised batters, got out after scoring just 10 runs in a bizarre manner after he stepped out of the crease before the ball was dead before being stumped. It happened after ducking on a bouncer by Cameron Green in the 52nd and Australia’s wicketkeeper Alex Carey under-armed the ball onto the stumps.

Bairstow thought he had secured his ground by tapping two times on the crease but was given out by the umpire. After that, the decision was referred to the third umpire Marais Erasmus who ruled that Bairstwo has been stumped. England were reduced to 193 for 6 chasing a target of 371 runs.

“For me, it’s just as plain as day out. And pretty much to all of the other professional cricketers I have spoken to, they all say exactly the same thing. Why didn’t he (Bairstow) make sure that he knew where the ball was and what was going on before he left (the crease)?” Butcher told the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast.

‘What was he doing? Where was he going?’ – Butcher about Bairstow leaving the crease

According to Butcher, it was Bairstow who should have been blamed as he decided to leave the crease without knowing where the ball was.

“I was listening to it on the radio. Nobody had really described what had happened apart from, ‘oh no, oh this, oh dear.’ So I got on the phone to call my old man (father Alan, also a former cricketer). I said, ‘Just tell me what happened, just walk me through it’. So he walked me through it and I said, ‘So that’s out then, isn’t it?’ And he said, ‘yeah’ Butcher said.

“What was he doing? Where was he going? Of course, now we’ve got an international incident. We’ve got people saying they’re not going to have a beer with each other after the game,” he added.