• Alex Carey says he would repeat his contentious stumping in the ongoing Ashes 2023.
• The incident triggered a “Spirit of Cricket” controversy.
• He said he was surprised by how the situation had gotten out of hand.

If the chance arose in the final two tests of the ongoing Ashes 2023 series, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey says he wouldn’t hesitate to replicate his contentious stumping of England’s Jonny Bairstow.

When he stumped Bairstow in the second test at Lord’s last month after the Englishman had been penalized for stepping out of his crease, Carey triggered a “Spirit of Cricket” controversy that involved the prime ministers of both countries.

Australia went on to win by 43 runs and now leads the five-test series 2-1 heading into Wednesday’s match at Old Trafford.

“If there was an opportunity to get a stumping, yeah I would,” Carey said when asked if he would repeat a move that saw Australia’s players verbally abused in the pavilion at the end of the session.

“There’s been some nasty stuff been said but it is the Ashes. There was nasty stuff said before that as well.

“I feel really well supported, I think the whole group does. From Australia, I still think we’ve got lots of fans and from England, I don’t think we’ve made any, but we probably didn’t lose any either.”

Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, and Rishi Sunak, his British counterpart, had a public argument about the incident, and Carey thought it had been “a little bit surprising” how the situation had gotten out of hand.

“We were switched on to the fact that it was a bouncer plan and it felt like Jonny was pretty switched on to getting out of the way, he wasn’t playing any shots,” Carey recalled of the event.

“When he ducked obviously his first movement was pretty much out of his crease so instinctively I grabbed the ball, threw the stumps down and the rest is history.

“He’s a fantastic player and a big wicket in that match with Ben (Stokes).

“Once the bail’s come off, it’s up to the third umpire to deem it out or not out, or the on-field umpires as well and it was given out.”

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