“It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused,with some being physically contacted,as they made their way to lunch through the members’ area.”
The MCC attempted to play down the ugly scenes in a statement of their own,which read in part:“After this morning’s play,emotions were running high,and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team,by a small number of members.
“We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian team and will deal with any member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes. It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground.”
Stokes revived memories of his famous,match-winning Ashes century at Headingley four years ago when he added 76 for the last wicket. This time the ask was just too great. Set 371 to win,England were bowled out for 327,with their long tail exposed.
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As long as Stokes was there another miracle looked possible,but he eventually skied an attempted big hit off Josh Hazlewood and wicketkeeper Alex Carey ran to his left for a simple catch. Stokes stood bent over his bat in dismay for some time before eventually leaving the ground to pats on the back from several Australians.
He had a partnership of 108 in 19.1 overs with Stuart Broad,who contributed 11.
Stokes faced 214 balls,hitting nine fours and nine sixes. At Headingley in 2019 Stokes finished unbeaten on 135 with eleven fours and eight sixes when he blasted England to 9/362 for a most improbable victory.
Bairstow was stumped wandering out of his crease at the end of the 52nd over. He had ducked another bounce from Cameron Green and then walked off down the pitch to talk to Stokes.
Carey took the ball and immediately underarmed it at the stumps,knocking the bails off. Two paces out of his crease Bairstow turned back in shock and there was an edgy conversation between the two batsmen and the umpires,before third umpire Marais Erasmus ruled Bairstow was out.
It was Erasmus who disallowed Mitchell Starc’s catch to dismiss Ben Duckett the previous day after the lumbering fast bowler took the ball cleanly and then dragged it across the ground in his hand as he slid around the boundary.
“The law is specific in it says that the fielder has to have control of his body and movement,” Eramus said before play on Sky Sports. “In that particular case he was still moving and put the ball on the ground.
“Now,if you take that example and say he was sliding towards the boundary,if he had slid into the boundary,it would have been either four or six depending on whether the ball touched the ground,so there’s no difference of the interpretation for the catch.”
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A clearly annoyed Stokes was sparked into action. After a Pat Cummins over in which Broad was hit in side of the helmet from one of the numerous bouncers he received,Stokes hit Cameron Green for three fours in an over.
He then stepped up the assault in Green’s next over,hitting a four and then three sixes in a row to bring up a remarkable hundred as every Australian fieldsman was scattered around the boundary.
Watch every ball of the 2023 Ashes series live and exclusive on Channel 9 and 9Now.