After the second Ashes Test, suddenly the England-Australia rivalry has flared up. Jonny Bairstow's controversial dismissal on the final day of the second Test started a series of attacks from both sides. Bairstow was given out when Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball at the stumps after the England batsman walked out of his crease after ducking under a Cameron Green bouncer. There was confusion in the middle, Bairstow seemingly believing the ball was dead at the end of the over, but Australia were happy to proceed with a deeply divisive appeal.
The umpires sent the decision upstairs for review by TV umpire Marais Erasmus, who had no option but to confirm Bairstow's stumping dismissal.
After the dismissal, former players of both the sides gave their take on the issue. Even UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australia PM Anthony Albanese gave statements on the issue.
'Talk TV' host Piers Morgan who has been quite vocal at the dismissal, tweeted a photo of an Australia paper which had photoshopped images of him, Ben Stokes, Geoffrey Boycott and Sunak.
"Aussie papers taking my critiques of their cricket team's foul play well…" Morgan tweeted with a photo of an Australian newspaper.
"Australia need to have a think about what they did and make a full public apology. That way it will redress the situation and everyone can move on. These teams have played brilliant cricket in great spirit and it is a shame when something like that happens to spoil it all," Boycott wrote in The Telegraph.
Meanwhile, Sunak's spokesman suggested: "The prime minister agrees with (England captain) Ben Stokes who said he simply wouldn't want to win a game in the manner that Australia did."
A bitter row about the 'spirit of cricket' was underway after Bairstow's dismissal, with furious fans chanting "cheats" and England's players clearly angry Australia did not withdraw their appeal on grounds of fair play.
Members in the Lord's Pavilion, the most exclusive part of the ground, confronted the Australia team as they walked through the historic Long Room to get to their dressing room at lunch.
Australia batsmen David Warner and Usman Khawaja were seen stopping to speak to members who were booing before stewards stepped in to usher the players away.
With AFP inputs