'Never seen it happen' - Jonny Bairstow breaks silence on infamous Ashes dismissal at Lord's

England’s Jonny Bairstow has broken silence on his contentious dismissal at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground during the Ashes this summer. The incident took place on Day 5 of the second Ashes Test, where Bairstow was dismissed controversially and it subsequently led to heated debates.

The keeper-batter was facing Australia’s Cameron Green in the 52nd over while he had scored 10 runs. The batter did not hit the ball and went out of the crease. Notably, Australia’s wicketkeeper Alex Carey quickly threw the ball at the stumps to dismiss the batter. Speaking to The Telegraph, the England cricketer stated that he was not trying to gain an advantage while he moved out of the crease. The veteran wicketkeeper-batter also questioned Australia's poor sportsmanship during the series.

“If you’re starting out of your crease, you’re trying to gain an advantage. If you start in your crease, and not trying to take a run, and you finish in your crease... That’s the bit – if you try to gain an advantage, then it’s fair game. But if you’re starting in your crease, you’ve ducked, tap, tap, scratched. I’ve even dragged my bat, looked up, and then gone,” Bairstow told The Telegraph.

Teh 34-year-old went on to say that he has never seen such things and added that these kinds of dismissal badly affect the enjoyment of the sport.

“I’ve never seen it happen from someone starting in their crease. I don’t think you want that filtering down into kids’ cricket. Look at the Mankads and everything like that. You want young kids to be out there batting and having fun, not thinking about whether the fielders might do this or that. It might tarnish people’s enjoyment of the game that we’re trying to get kids into. You want to be out there batting and bowling, rather than thinking about the 11 different ways you can get someone out,” he added.