Ashes 2023: Ben Stokes responds to being called 'cry baby' as Australian, British media clash

Before Sunday, the Ashes had been contested on the field. Australia led the series 1-0 and the fifth day of the second Test hung in the balance with England needing 371 runs to win. Things changed completely the moment Alex Carey threw underarm from behind the stumps to catch Jonny Bairstow off. It changed the entire complexion of the historic series – on and off the pitch.

Captains Pat Cummins and Ben Stokes stood on opposite sides over the fairness of the dismissal. As did the Prime Ministers. Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott asked Australia to apologise ‘if they are man enough’. Now the media of both countries has entered the battle arena with some over the top headlines.

How the British media covered it

The Daily Mail writer Oliver Holt labelled Cummins as “pathetic” and said he didn’t “do the right thing.”

“Pat Cummins sat in his chair on the dais at the post-match press conference, grinning sheepishly like a child who has been rumbled for filching a penny from the jar,” Holt wrote. “The Australia captain did not seem to realise it, but he had won a Test match and lost his reputation.”

“Cummins and Australia reworked history this time. They chose underhand instead of underarm,” he wrote in reference to Trevor Chappell’s infamous underarm-ball episode against New Zealand in 1981. “He did not look like a leader. He looked pathetic,” he said of Cummins.

Monday’s Sun: Out.. Of Order #TomorrowsPapersToday #TheSun #Sun pic.twitter.com/UdJgo5IZVB

— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) July 2, 2023

The Telegraph’s Oliver Brown criticised Australia for killing “decorum” as well as “codes of honour and mateship”.

“For while England fans might be able to tolerate defeat, and the likelihood of a first home Ashes series defeat since 2001, they cannot forgive anyone they consider a scoundrel,” Brown wrote.

Simon Heffer, also in The Telegraph said, “What happened was not cheating, but it was gamesmanship of a repellent degree, and entirely unworthy of a great cricketing nation such as Australia.”

The Daily Express headline yelled out: “Spirit of Cricket Reduced to Ashes” while The Mail went with “disgrace” and The Telegraph called it “Ashes battle turns toxic”.

In The Guardian, writer Jonathan Liew said time has come for a reality check. “It is probably necessary to let reality impinge just a little,” he wrote. “England are 2-0 down not because of cheating Aussies or insufficient ambition, but because they are playing a superior side with superior cricketers, with more tones and shades to their game.”

“Australia have batted like adults. England have batted like children. Australia practise their catches. England have largely stopped practising entirely.”

How the Australian media covered it

The Western Australian front page depicted Stokes as a cry baby, accusing the “Poms of taking whingeing to new level with cheating drivel.”

Hilariously, Stokes responded to the graphic of him holding a shiny red ball with: “That’s definitely not me, since when did I bowl with the new ball”!

That’s definitely not me, since when did I bowl with the new ball https://t.co/24wI5GzohD

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) July 3, 2023

The Sydney Morning Herald said “the final day of the second Ashes Test descended into chaos”. Writer Andrew Webster wrote, “The first rule of MCC Fight Club is to know the rules of cricket…I would have thought membership to the most famous club in cricket meant you understood the laws of the game.”

Gideon Haigh wrote in The Australian, “puce-faced MCC snobs should learn their own rules”. On the confrontation between Usman Khawaja and MCC members, he said, “What could be a worse look in the week of the Equity in Cricket report than dim-bulb snobs picking fights with a placid, softly-spoken Muslim player? Chaps, pull yourselves together.”

The Daily Telegraph in Australia had a voice of dissent though. Phil Rothfield wrote, “The greatest moments in Australian sport are often not about winning, but great acts of sportsmanship. This Ashes win will be remembered, but not for the right reasons.”

We’d like to thank Jonny Bairstow for reminding everyone about the dangers of stepping over the crease before you’re given the green light.

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— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) July 3, 2023

Away from the newspapers, in a cheeky jibe, the Victoria Police wrote on Twitter, “We’d like to thank Jonny Bairstow for reminding everyone about the dangers of stepping over the crease before you’re given the green light.”

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