George Bailey questions reactions of Eoin Morgan and the English crowd as Ben Stokes' controversy rolls on
Australian middle-order batsman and former skipper George Bailey has strongly defended the Australian team in the wake of Ben Stokes’ controversial dismissal, Cricket Australia’s official website reports. The 32-year-old also questioned the reactions of England skipper Eoin Morgan and the home crowd with regards to sportsmanship.
The English all-rounder was given out for ‘obstructing the field’ as he struck out his hand at Mitchell Starc’s throw aimed at the stumps as he was trying to get back to the crease. Morgan and the English crowd felt the Australians were wrong in appealing as they felt Stokes was taking evasive action, but it is not a view that is shared by Bailey.
"He's (Morgan) obviously very emotional about it still - and that's fine, he was out there - but we think the ball was going to hit the stumps, he (Stokes) was out of his crease and he put his hand up when the ball wasn't going to hit him anyway," Bailey said. "I think if the ball was going to go four metres wide (of the stumps), I don't think we would've appealed. It was the fact we thought the ball was going to hit the stumps. And if he didn't put his hand up we'd have known if the ball was going to hit the stumps.”
Bailey also took strong exception to Morgan’s claim that he would have recalled the batsman had he been in the Australian skipper’s shoes.
"It's a big call for Eoin to say that (he would have withdrawn the appeal). "I assume if that's how he feels then any time a batter nicks one onto his pad and gets given out lbw, or gets wrongfully given out caught behind, he'll call them back as well. That's his prerogative as captain," Bailey said.
Bailey further defended the decision made by the third umpire and insisted that the Australian team were well within their rights to appeal.
“I think the correct decision was made. I don't think the ball was going to hit him. I think the ball was going to hit the stumps, and he was out of his crease," Bailey said. “I don't think there was any need for him to put his hand up to defend himself. I'm 100 per cent sure the discussion in the middle (among the Australian players) was if the ball wasn't going to hit the stumps we wouldn't have appealed."
He also took a jibe at the English crowd who had jeered after the decision was made and continued to voice their dissatisfaction at the end of the match when Steven Smith came up to speak at the presentation ceremony.
“I think the noise from the crowd helps us. In terms of the decision itself, I thought 'Smudger' worked through it really logically," Bailey said.
"I think the crowd like to boo a 'Mitch' over here, don't they?" he added. "They've probably been missing Mitchell Johnson for a couple of weeks. That might wake them up a bit - and the north (of England) haven't had much cricket, so they'll get to see a bit of good cricket as well.”