Grant Elliott collides with Ryan Sidebottom prior to being run out during the match between England and New Zealand at The Oval on June 25, 2008 in London. Photo / Getty Images
“Literally the worst thing I’ve ever seen in cricket, that.”
That was England bowler Stuart Broad’s take on the dismissal of teammate Jonny Bairstow at the hands of the quick-thinking Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Under Kiwi coach Brendon McCullum, England have been quick to adopt a moral high-ground stance on how they play their cricket, somewhat taking it upon themselves to be the upholder of the spirit of the game.
But as Broad points the finger at the Aussies, going as far as penning an opinion piece in the Daily Mail, his take on the incident has seen him labelled as a hypocrite.
His view was shared by both Ben Stokes and McCullum, who believed the Aussies had done the dirty on England and not played within the “spirit of the game”.
But clearly, the pace bowler nor his teammates have heard the saying “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. England has a severe case of “selective memory”, according to cricket fans, with many labelling them “whinging Poms” and “hypocrites”.
England have previously been caught up in a number of instances of breaking the holy “spirit of cricket” standards they are so desperate to want to uphold.
As the fire rages from the fallout of Bairstow’s stumping, we take a look at eight times the England cricket team trampled on the “spirit of cricket” motto.
In 2013, Broad was facing Australian spinner Ashton Agar when he produced a heavy edge that was caught at first slip by Michael Clarke.
Broad stood his ground, refusing to walk despite millions around the world seeing and hearing the thickest of edges live on television. Those at the ground could hear it - all except the umpire who gave it not out.
He remained at the crease. Commentator David “Bumble” Lloyd at the time said live on air: “Oh my goodness. Speechless. That’s a huge nick. The audacity...”
England went on to win by 14 runs. At the time of the incident, Broad was on 37. He went on to score 65.
Let's not forget Stuart Broad - who labelled Carey's run out the worst thing he's seen - didn't walk after smashing this to Clarke. He still defends that yet conveniently forgets Bairstow attempted to run out Labuschagne the same way as Carey 2 days earlier. Selective memory pic.twitter.com/afdNix3EzG
— TomRehn9 (@tomrehn9) July 3, 2023
Following the incident in 2013, Broad said: “It wasn’t as clear-cut as everyone had thought, although I knew I’d hit it,” said Broad.
He later said: “Those things aren’t remembered. It’s winning the series that will be remembered. We do have a win-at-all-costs mentality. I think we’re quite an unpleasant team to play against at the moment.”
What happened to the “spirit of cricket”?
Stuart Broad to Alex Carey: "You'll forever be remembered for that."
— Basil (@BasilZoccali) July 2, 2023
Also, Stuart Broad: #Ashes pic.twitter.com/laxdRKlkH4
Former England batter Marcus Trescothick said in his autobiography that he used mint-induced saliva to keep the shine on the ball as his team recorded their first Ashes victory after 18 years in 2005.
The tampering aided the unplayable swing delivered by the England bowlers as Australia lost the series 2-1.
No charges were brought against Trescothick, who retired before his book was published.
In 2007 at Trent Bridge against India, an England player threw jellybeans on the pitch.
While England bowler Ryan Sidebottom claimed it was “banter”, Indian batsman Zaheer Khan was upset at the stunt, alerting the umpires to the situation.
Littering the pitch with jellybeans could have altered the movement of the ball, and for most goes against the “spirit of cricket”.
In 2018 it was revealed that England batter Ian Bell was the culprit.
At the time, batter Zaheer Khan was furious.
“When I got to the crease there were some jelly beans there,” he said. “I just swept one off the wicket, and when I played the next ball there were some more, so obviously someone was chucking them from behind. I was upset about it. I went to speak to them and asked what was going on.”
England staunchly denied they did it to tamper with the conditions, insisting it was a prank to lighten the mood of the match.
“Sometimes, you know, test cricket and cricket can be really tough and difficult and sometimes you think, life is too short, you just have to enjoy with a smile on your face,” Sidebottom said years later.
“In the jellybean incident, India were on top in that game and they were outplaying us at that time. We just thought to put jellybean on that wicket, it was nothing, it was just a little bit of banter. The English press blew it out of proportion but you know, we all want to have a little bit of fun and enjoy what you are doing.”
In 2008, England and New Zealand were involved in a tense one day international (ODI) match.
Black Caps all-rounder Grant Elliott was taking off for a single, when he and England bowler Ryan Sidebottom accidentally collided mid-pitch, with both falling to the floor.
Despite Elliott being obstructed and stranded halfway down the pitch, fielder Ian Bell fired the ball at the stumps with Kevin Pietersen taking the bails off.
The spotlight turned to captain Paul Collingwood and whether he would withdraw England’s appeal.
The umpire approached Collingwood, who decided to uphold the appeal and give Elliott his marching orders. Luckily, New Zealand went on to win the match.
Afterwards, Collingwood apologised for his decision as a discussion over the spirit of cricket broke out. “It was in the heat of the moment,” he was quoted as saying by the Guardian after the match.
“I have never been in that situation before as a captain. It is a difficult decision to make. In hindsight, I wish I had called him back. You come off the pitch and wonder if you should have done things differently. I hold my hands up and say I probably made the wrong decision, and that is something that I will have to live with. I apologise to the New Zealand lads.”
In 2020, Sidebottom tweeted that he was sorry for the incident.
“Apologies... I didn’t run into him on purpose and it wasn’t in the spirit of the game what happened. Serious tackle by the way.”
In 2005, England’s quest to regain the Ashes saw coach Duncan Fletcher looking for every opportunity to “seek an advantage”, a phrase Broad referenced in his stance on why Bairstow shouldn’t have been out.
Fletcher bent the rules around the 12th man, who is usually a member of the touring squad that is in contention to make the starting XI.
Instead, the coach handpicked the best fielders in the country to act as substitute fielders, who would then follow the team for the duration of the series.
Trevor Penney, later England’s fielding coach, Samit Patel and the now-famous Gary Pratt were all selected and they would routinely replace England’s fast bowlers between spells to allow them a comfort break.
Then, in the fourth test, with Australia wrestling their way back into the game, controversy struck.
Damien Martyn took off for a quick single, and in a flash sub fielder Gary Pratt picked up the ball and ran out Ricky Ponting.
“It was something that was done as part of the plan”, admits Pratt. “The plan was always for the guys to go off and get showered and freshened up - especially the bowlers - to come back out and have another spell.”
Ponting was furious and sledged Fletcher while walking off.
Although using a substitute fielder is very much valid according to laws of cricket, Ponting was angry about the way England was exploiting the rule.
He filed a complaint with the match referee.
Is this in the “spirit of cricket”?
In 2010 while in South Africa, the bowling duo was accused of ball tampering by both the South Africans and their own former players during the third test.
Footage showed Broad stopping the ball with his shoe spikes and Anderson picking at the seam.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain responded with some rather damning comments at the time, saying: “Stuart Broad and James Anderson were wrong to behave in the manner they did and I’ve no doubt that if a player from another country did the same, we’d have said they were cheating.”
There was no fine and no action taken, with the South African team declining to lay a charge despite protesting about it at the press conference.
Broad hit back at the allegations at the time, saying: “My actions in stopping the ball with my boot have been questioned but I am not the first bowler to stop a ball with his size 12s and I will not be the last.
“It was close to 40 degrees Celsius out there in Newlands at the time and, if I was guilty of anything, it was just laziness in not bending down to pick up the ball.
“Ball-tampering? That’s astonishing. For one thing, if I was skilled enough to be able to step on the scuffed up side of the ball and know exactly what I was doing to create an unfair advantage with my feet, I would be playing football in the Premier League rather than cricket for England.”
In 2019, England keeper Ben Foakes was in the firing line after he produced a controversial “delayed” stumping of Ireland’s Andrew Barnabie during an ODI.
Foakes used a clever trick to get rid of Barnabie for 29, when he held onto the ball after the batter missed a shot while attempting to sweep.
The wicketkeeper waited patiently for Barnabie to lift his foot for a split second before taking the bails off.
Ireland captain William Porterfield said that the delay should have meant that the ball was “pretty much dead”, the same argument England used against Carey’s stumping of Bairstow.
“How long do you wait? We’ll be playing 15-hour games if you wait that long,” Porterfield said. “You can say it was great wicketkeeping or you can say it’s a bit of a grey area of how long he takes. The ball was pretty much dead. The batsman wasn’t going anywhere or overbalanced. It wasn’t like he had fallen over.
“The keeper has waited for three or four seconds, if we do that all day it’s going be a pretty long game.”
One high profile sporting fan contacted the ICC, writing: “If the ICC wishes to maintain its ‘Spirit of Cricket’ as part of the modern game, then the Ben Foakes ‘stumping’ in Malahide today should not be endorsed as ‘within the spirit of the game.’”
The one on the left was labelled "Quick-thinking Foakes stumps Balbirnie". The same news site asks whether Bairstow's dismissal is “The most controversial moment of the Ashes so far?" #fairgame pic.twitter.com/SoZYV0eSz0
— Isabelle Westbury (@izzywestbury) July 2, 2023
While there’s been plenty of debate surrounding the runout of Jonny Bairstow on day five by Alex Carey, the English keeper seemed to have attempted to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne in a very similar manner.
While wicketkeeping on day three, Bairstow had caught the ball and attempted to throw the stumps down as Labuschagne was outside the crease but not attempting a run.
While the English were furious with Carey’s stumping, Broad attempted to justify the difference between the two in a column.
“Yes, I have seen a clip from earlier in the match when in his guise as wicketkeeper, Jonny himself threw the ball at the stumps. But that was because Marnus Labuschagne was batting outside of his crease - in doing so, attempting to take the lbw out of the game. In other words, seeking an advantage,” he wrote.
But punters disagreed with Broad’s take, saying England’s “hypocrisy” has been exposed.
“England’s hypocrisy exposed as Bairstow tries to stump Labuschagne on day three... but of course Stokes would’ve called Marnus back (coughs... BS),” one wrote.
Another added: “Apparently, it’s terrible Jonny Bairstow was run out by the Australian wicketkeeper, Alex Carey... so terrible, Bairstow attempted the SAME THING against Marnus Labuschagne!”
Bevon Jacobs is yet to play international cricket, but he knows it's where he wants to be.