McCullum's 'no-beer' comment triggers Australia coach; Haddin retaliates with 'sour grapes' jibe to highlight hypocrisy

Australia defeated England by 43 runs in the second Ashes Test but the result got overshadowed by the “spirit of cricket” debate.

The second Ashes Test witnessed yet another thrilling encounter between traditional rivals England and Australia at Lord's, with the latter winning the contest by 43 runs. The victory took Australia 2-0 up in the five-match series but the result got overshadowed by the “spirit of cricket” debate, with fans, players, coaches, and ex-cricketers joining the bandwagon.

Jonny Bairstow and Brendon McCullum (AFP)

The discussion sparked following the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, who was runout by Alex Carey in the opening session of Day 5. Although the dismissal was fine as per the laws of the game, but many argued it was against the spirit of cricket, which was also echoed by England skipper Ben Stokes, and coach Brendon McCullum.

Bairstow found himself in the unwanted situation as he casually strolled towards Ben Stokes at non-striker's end after ducking a short delivery by Cameron Green, which was collected by Alex Carey, the wicketkeeper in this case. However, Carey showed good awareness and knocked the stumps with a direct throw with Bairstow no where in the frame.

The incident fumed the home supporters, including some of the MCC members as seen in the video shared on social media. McCullum too didn't hesitate to express anguish over Carey's act and in an interaction with BBC he said: “I can't imagine we'll be having a beer with them any time soon.”

"In the end you've got to live with the decisions you make, and that's life. But I feel from our point of view, if we were in the same situation, we might've made a different decision," McCullum added.

The remarks by McCullum stirred up his Australian counterpart Andrew McDonald, who said he was disappointed.

“There’s no doubt when a player is leaving their crease or leaving their ground at certain periods of time that you take that opportunity. It got sent upstairs and ultimately, the officiating third umpire decides it’s out, it’s within the laws of the game. So yeah, I don’t see too many issues with it, to be perfectly honest,” McDonald told in the post-match presser.

“I haven’t spoken to him. I’ve heard that comment for the first time, and I’m somewhat disappointed by that," McDonald concluded.

Meanwhile, former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin also launched a scathing attack on McCullum for his “won't have beers” remark. He also highlighted an incident when McCullum had done something similar during his playing career.

"The coach is coming and saying that they won't have beers with the Aussies. Mate, they're 2-0 up. They will be enjoying their own company. They don't need to have beer with anyone else.

"Brendon McCullum himself did it to Murali in a Test match when he just tapped his crease and went to Sangakkara, his partner, to congratulate him on a hundred. He did a similar thing," noted Haddin while speaking on the Willow Talk Podcast.

"Sounds like a bit of sour grapes from England. They're throwing a lot of stuff at the Australians on and off the field in the media and Australia have just trusted their game style.

“They've won big moments. In the end, they stayed rock solid and won the Test match,” he added.

The incident, which Haddin referred to took place in the second innings of the first Test at Christchurch back in 2006, when McCullum had ran-out Muttiah Muralitharan, which many felt was against the spirit of the game.

Then New Zealand wicketkeeper McCullum whipped the bails as Muralitharan stepped out to celebrate Kumar Sangakkara’s century. Both Sangakkara and Muralitharan had assumed the ball to be dead, in fact the latter had grounded his bat at the striker’s end before leaving his crease to congratulate his partner. New Zealand had won the match by five wickets.