The new year is only weeks away but retired England quick Stuart Broad is still stewing on the Jonny Bairstow stumping.
Five months after Australian gloveman Alex Carey’s stumping of a day-dreaming Bairstow during the second Test of this year’s Ashes series, Broad has reignited the saga in an interview with UK publication The Sun.
“I walked in with [Ben] Stokes at lunch and the roar just hit us. The hairs on the back of our necks were standing up — a huge ovation. We turned towards the changing rooms. As we got to the door, the booing came in waves — enough for both of us to stop and say, ‘What’s happened?’,” Broad said.
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“It was the Aussies walking in. It stunned me. I’ve never heard that level of noise in such an enclosed space, and especially in the Long Room.”
So vicious was the treatment dished out by those in the Long Room that, following a months-long MCC investigation, one member was banned for life and two others were dealt lengthy suspensions.
They hurled abuse at the Australians after Carey stumped Bairstow during England’s fifth-day pursuit of 371 runs to win.
Bairstow lost his wicket for 10 as the English fell to 6-193, and although Stokes carved out 155 runs in an exceptional captain’s knock that reawakened memories of his Headingley heroics, the hosts ultimately lost by 43 runs.
“It told the Aussie players all they needed to know about the decision they’d made,” Broad said of the Long Room members’ hostile reception for the tourists.
“I know Pat Cummins is a really good guy but we haven’t seen eye-to-eye on a cricket field. My feelings haven’t changed. I’m slightly more relaxed than I was at Lord’s and I do cringe about going into red-mist mode, but I don’t think it was the right decision and I can guarantee Ben Stokes would have made a different one.
“But that Bairstow dismissal ignited the series for us. It dragged out the England-Australia rivalry. We hardly lost a session after it. It brought a bit of needle to the next Test at Leeds.
“I dismissed David Warner in the first over and emotion got the better of me — I ran at the crowd, yelling, ‘Come on!’.”
England fought back from 2-0 down to draw the series at 2-2. While it wasn’t enough to steal the Ashes urn back from the Australians, who had won the previous series 4-0 in Australia, it denied Cummins and his men a rare Ashes series victory in the UK.
England’s victory at The Oval in the fifth Test also ensured Broad retired on a winning note.
“On the eve of the final day at The Oval, Jonny said, ‘I know what’s going to happen tomorrow — the final wicket will be caught Bairstow, bowled Broad’,” said Broad, who retired with 604 Test wickets to his name.
“At the end I can see myself mouthing to Jonny, ‘You called it!’.”
