England should focus on their own performances rather than invoking the spirit of cricket: Pat Cummins

In spite of Ben Stokes' extraordinary inning of 155, Australia defeated England quite easily in the second Ashes test. But it was Jonny Bairstow's controversial wicket that caught the limelight not Stokes' heroics with the bat.

Pat Cummins, the Australian skipper, has responded to the controversy surrounding Bairstow's stumping in the second Test at Lord's. Cummins said that England should focus on their own performances rather than invoking the spirit of cricket. 

Cummins expressed his surprise at the strong reactions to what he considers a common occurrence in cricket. "I don't think there's any discussion; it's out. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't be looking at the opposition, I'd probably be thinking about our own batter and would be thinking it's pretty silly," he said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Cummins praised his team's ability to handle the situation and urged it to focus on its self-improvement. He stated, "When we haven't been playing up to scratch, we look pretty deeply at what we are doing, and try to make amends. We don't blame to conditions or opposition or anything else going on."

Stuart Broad, in his column for the Daily Mail, criticised Cummins' decision not to withdraw the appeal, predicting that he might regret it in the future. England coach Brendon McCullum also weighed in, drawing on his own experience of a controversial dismissal and subsequent apology. 

Former English captain and their batting star, Joe Root echoed similar sentiments, stating, "If you're happy with that, then fine. If not, I don't think you can criticize other people that play the game slightly differently."

While talking about that stumping dismissal of Bairstow, Cummins however remained firm and said, "It was plain and simple a stumping."

Talking about the third Ashes Test at Headingley, Cummins said that Australia is going to get a hostile reception from the English crowd but the Australian team is not going to be bothered by that and said that one should be ready to face these challenges if one is playing professional sports.

 "If you are playing professional sport, it's unfortunate but that is one of the things that you will have to deal with," He said

Root urges fans not to cross boundaries

Root called on the fans to support England but cautioned against crossing boundaries. He emphasized that the focus should be on enjoying cricket and not on anything else.

Despite the differing opinions and the fallout from the controversy, Cummins expressed no ill feelings towards McCullum, even after the latter stated that he wouldn't want to share a beer with the Australian team anytime soon. Cummins shrugged it off, saying, "Maybe we just see this one differently, which is totally fine."