Stokes had little to say about claims that Bairstow uses the same tactics,and suggested he would have withdrawn the appeal in similar circumstances.
“The first thing that needs to be said is that it is out,” Stokes said. “The things I had to consider out there was the fact it was the last ball of the over and I questioned the umpires as to whether they had called over.
“Both umpires were making the gesture walking towards their opposite position. Jonny was in his crease,then left his crease to come out and have the conversation between overs like every batsman does.
“If I was fielding captain at the time,I would have put a lot more pressure on the umpires to ask them what their decision was around the ‘over’. Then I would have had a real think about the spirit of the game,and would I want to potentially win a game with something like that happening ... it would be no.”
McCullum had the same view,despite having claimed dismissals in similar fashion when he was New Zealand wicketkeeper and then captain.
“I think,technically,it’s out but from our point of view Jonny wasn’t attempting a run and Jonny felt that with the signs of the umpire looking at his cap and the square leg umpire walking,and him touching the ground in the crease that the ball was dead and in fact it was over,” McCullum said on radio after the match.
“With the benefit of hindsight ... I was lucky enough to play for a long period of time,and you learn over a long period that the game and the spirit of the game is so vital to this great game.
“It’s one thing we’ve got that other sports maybe don’t have,and to uphold that is such an important part of it,and I think in the end you’ve got to live with the decisions you make,and that’s life. But I feel,from our point of view,if we were in the same situation,we might’ve made a different decision.”
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Cummins believes the Bairstow decision was inthe same category as the Mitchell Starc disallowed catch on day four,when he gathered the ball cleanly while sliding around the boundary but then dragged the ball along the ground. In both cases third umpire Marais Erasmus made the ruling.
“The spirit of cricket is really important. I think the way we’ve gone about it over the last couple of years has been fantastic – absolutely fantastic – and we should be really proud as a group,” Cummins said.
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