“It wasn’t the way that I wanted to be out”: England’s Jonny Bairstow on Lord’s stumping

Manchester [UK], July 22 (ANI) Engalnd wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow, facing flak for for his contentious stumping at Lord’s said his severely fractured leg from the previous year may have prevented him from walking normally again.
Bairstow said he was “proud” to be able to return as a professional sportsman after putting England in an unbeatable position during the fourth Test at Old Trafford against Australia with an unbeaten 99 from just 81 balls. “It wasn’t the way that I wanted to be out down at Lord’s,” Sydney Morning Herald quoted Bairstow as saying of Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey throwing down the stumps when the Yorkshireman left his crease believing it was the end of an over.
“It’s part and parcel with the game. We’ve seen it. On other occasions, I’ve even heard about it now in club cricket. That’s not necessarily what you want to be hearing as an example. When you look at young kids coming up, you want to be playing the game how I’ve always played it. You play it tough, you play it fair and on a different day, it doesn’t happen,” said the wicketkeeper-batter.
With England’s frequently frenzied approach to the game, according to Bairstow, there were always going to be failures. After a fluent half-century in the first Test at Birmingham, Bairstow underperformed in next two games. But here at Manchester in the fourth Ashes Test, his 99* in just 81 balls showcased the flashes of brilliance that earned him acclaim last year as a batter.
“There’s going to be times that it doesn’t come off because of the way that we’re trying to play the game and the way that we’re trying to take it forward, and I think that you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth,” he said.

“Obviously, the way in which we’d played the game and come into the series and have played the game over the last 18 months is something we’re very proud of and the momentum, whether that’s with bat or ball or the way that we’re going about the game, is definitely the right way to go about it going forward,” Bairstow said.

Coming to the match, Australia ended the third day at 113/4, with Marnus Labuschagne (44*) and Mitchell Marsh (1*) unbeaten. They trail England by 162 runs.
Earlier, in reply to Australia’s 317 in first innings, England had scored 592 runs in their first innings.

Australia became a victim of some heavy hitting from the host’s top seven batters. Zak Crawley (189 in 182 balls, with 21 fours and three sixes) led the attack with his maiden Ashes ton.

Moeen Ali (54 in 82 balls, with seven fours), Joe Root (84 in 95 balls with eight fours and a six), Harry Brook (61 in 100 balls, with five fours), skipper Ben Stokes (51 in 74 balls with five fours) and Jonny Bairstow (99* in 81 balls with 10 fours and four sixes) played impactful knocks. (ANI)