"They look like pork chops" - Pat Cummins mocks Lord's members after Ashes 2023 controversy
Australia skipper Pat Cummins has launched a scathing attack on Lord's members following the controversy in the 2023 Ashes series. The right-arm speedster stated that he realized the people heckling them hardly mattered and labeled them 'pork chops'.
The contentious stumping of Jonny Bairstow during the fourth innings of the second Ashes Test at Lord's provoked a massive controversy. At lunch, David Warner and Usman Khawaja were involved in a verbal war with the members at Lord's, with the crowd also booing the visiting side.
Cummins, as quoted by The West Australian opened up on the incident, stating:
"Maybe I've become immune to it. The worse they carried on the more I realised it doesn't matter because they look like pork chops. If I felt there was any truth to what was being said, or if it was being said by someone I respected and not the crowd, it might have been different."
While the Aussie captain stayed ingrained in their mode of dismissal to get rid of Bairstow, England skipper Ben Stokes criticized it. Stokes said at the post-match presentation that he would never deploy such a technique to dismiss an opposition batter.
"It was pretty clear cut that it was out" - Pat Cummins
Cummins further claimed that he didn't see anything amiss with the dismissal affected by Alex Carey and that the team didn't let the boos get into their heads.
Cummins said, as quoted by The West Australian:
"I didn't feel like it was too difficult. It was pretty clear cut that it was out and we conducted ourselves very well. I saw a lot of people carrying on, getting really riled up, and then I looked at our team and I thought everyone was brilliant, and calm and measured. I was pretty happy to be on our team. And I was pretty comfortable with our position."
The tourists claimed a vital breakthrough of Bairstow at that stage. However, Stokes' whirlwind 155 threatened to pull off an improbable victory, but England fell short by 43 runs in the end. The series resulted in a 2-2 draw, with Australia retaining the urn.