Pat Cummins expertly shuts down journalist over Jonny Bairstow furore

England's nationwide tantrum over the result of the second Ashes Test has continued, with even the British Prime Minister weighing in amid calls from one England great for Australia to 'apologise' to their rivals, who they now hold a 2-0 series lead over. Pat Cummins was again confronted about the 'spirit of cricket' by an English journalist on Monday, amusingly offering another one-word response to criticism.

Up in arms from the moment Jonny Bairstow carelessly wandered outside his crease, only to be immediately stumped by Australian counterpart Alex Carey, the reaction to both the wicket and the loss has been immense in England. Chants of 'cheats' at Lord's as well as an ugly confrontation with MCC members in the famed 'Long Room', were directed at the Aussie team in the wake of Bairstow's dismissal.

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Both captain Ben Stokes and England coach Brendon McCullum have suggested they'd have waved off the appeal for Bairstow's wicket had they been in the same situation - despite fans digging up multiple instances of either England or McCullum himself during his playing days making similar plays. Cummins was asked by Daily Mirror sports writer Mike Walter whether he believed in or if there was such a thing as the 'spirit of cricket' - to which Cummins simply replied, 'yes'.

Evidently not satisfied with Cummins' response, Walter then asked if the series was in danger of seeing 'Mankads or underarm bowling later on this series?' - an amusing line of questioning for the Australian captain. “Ah. I mean, depends how flat the wickets get. It might be an option to turn to,” Cummins shot back, prompting a laugh among assembled media.

England had made no secret about their preference for a fast and flat wicket, in order to best deploy their aggressive 'Bazball' tactics, with the bat in particular. While some considered the reporter's line of questioning 'disrespectful', the rage directed at the Aussies appears unlikely to abate any time soon.

Pat Cummins plays it cool amid England firestorm

Meanwhile, veteran Australian umpire Simon Taufel has backed the decision, saying it was clear England and their fans simply 'didn't like it'. Taufel, a highly-regarded decision-maker and member of the MCC Rules committee, said it was incumbent on the batter not to stray from their crease or simply assume the on-field umpire has called over.

"Correct decision made, they just didn't like it," Taufel told ABC Grandstand. "For that ball to be considered dead after the over or even after the delivery, both side need to disregard that it is in play.

"Clearly, the fielding side hadn't. We actually tweaked the laws several years ago in this space, that the umpire was not to call over until the ball was dead anyway, so even on the call of 'over' the umpire has to be satisfied that the ball is dead in the first place. So they didn't."

"It doesn't matter which side of the fence you sit on, the batter's job is to stay in their crease if you don't want to be run out or stumped."

Cummins has defended the decision to stump Bairstow, pointing out that the English keeper had tried on the same dismissal multiple times against Australian batters earlier in the Test. He said it was a simple matter of staying in the crease.

“I thought it was fair,” he said. “You know, you see Jonny do it all the time.

"He did it day one to Davey Warner, he did it in 2019 to Steve (Smith), it’s a really common thing for keepers to do if they see a batter keep leaving their crease, so (Carey), full credit to him, saw the opportunity.

"I think Jonny did it a few balls beforehand, (Carey) rolled it at the stumps, Jonny left his crease. You leave the rest to the umpires.”

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