From Bairstow's casual approach to Stokes 'Spirit of Game' argument and Headingley drama - Is 'spirit of game' debate England's weapon to defend failures?

Follow what you preach, dear England? After the infamous Jonny Bairstow versus Alex Carey saga in Lord’s in the second Ashes Test, England skipper Ben Stokes stated that he would have promoted the spirit of the game and would have called Bairstow back to the crease as the stumper-batter wasn’t really attempting to be clever. On the other hand, Australia skipper Pat Cummins clarified that his teammates might repeat something similar if given an opportunity and he has no regret whatsoever as laws clearly define it to be legal.

English press of course condemned the act while Australia retaliated hilariously after the Lord's Test. However, questions remained on Ben Stokes’ and Jonny Bairstow’s philosophies as both previously did something similar, which is now invalid it seems. However, in the third Test at Headingley, another such incident happened that questioned Stokes’ faith in the Spirit of the Game. 

After starting strongly in the opening session, England lost their way in the second and that’s when the England skipper did something that is probably against his philosophy. A beautiful shot from Travis Head looked destined to hit the boundary rope, but Stokes dived and flicked the ball back before it cleared the rope with his right hand, saving four runs. But did he? Well, replays suggested otherwise but even so, umpires didn’t award a boundary. Former England skipper Nasser Hussain was surprised to see that as Aussie media once again started calling the hosts ‘cheaters’.

“Wow, how’s that not a four? No idea how that’s not a four.” Hussain said in disbelief from the comm box.

So what really happened to Stokes’ comments regarding Spirit of the Game? The 32-year-old is yet to comment on the incident but one thing seems to be clear that the term Spirit of the Game is actually a weapon to hide one's failure. Playing at home, England were bashed in the first two Tests and the Spirit of the Game debate absolutely shifted the focus from their on-field performance. A brilliant PR move though. Deliberate? Well, something we will never know.

Over the past few years, England have spoken a lot about Spirit of the Game but instead, the cricketers and the legends could have spent some time reading the laws because every time any of their cricketers gets out in a bizarre fashion, England seem to dig out the famous Spirit of the Game argument. Dear England, read and re-read about the laws.