FOuL-mOuTHED STOKES FALLS FOR CAPTAIN KOHLI’S wIND-uP
YET again England had their very own flame-haired Red Adair.
Jonny Bairstow went in to rescue a nightmare start with the bat as he has done all year.
Eight times Bairstow has effectively saved England’s bacon in his glorious year with the bat and this time in Mohali it was no different, despite Alastair Cook winning the toss and getting first use of a dry pitch.
Adair, the fire-fighting Texan oilman who prevented many disasters, would have been proud of the tenacious Yorkshireman.
If it wasn’t for Bairstow’s 89 that takes his 2016 tally to 1,340 runs, the first innings would have sunk without trace. Instead, there was the faintest Ben sToKes has been reprimanded for his reaction to Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s send off.
The england all-rounder was handed a demerit point on his record – his second in a month – after he turned to confront Kohli on getting out in Mohali.
stokes has a notoriously short fuse and the home team pulse still beating as they walked off on 268-8 at the close.
Of course he had his ginger partner in crime, Ben Stokes, alongside him to help with the fightback as they added 57 together.
But it was the recalled Jos Buttler standing firmest with the England stumper, who revealed his frustration at getting out just before the close.
“Having won the toss it is disappointing to lose the wickets that we have,” admitted Bairstow. “It could have been a disastrous day though and if we didn’t knuckle down and work hard then we could have been bowling on day one.
“I was really cheesed off to get out like that this evening. That hurt me pretty bad to get out like that because I thought I had played quite nicely through the day. We are disappointed have played on it to mischievous perfection.
on hearing comments directed at him after being stumped, stokes paused and offered a verbal comeback laced with swear words that were heard by umpires Chris gaffaney and Marais erasmus.
He was found to have breached the ICC code of conduct relating to “using to lose those wickets, especially early on with the pitch at its best on days one and two, but we’re fighting and in the battle. It has been a scrappy day, but we’ve dealt with worse.
“As a lower-order run machine we combine quite well. There is some sort of ginger bond between me and Stokesy and it is great to bat with him.
“Jos batted nicely and it was a good partnership that we had. I’ve batted with him on many occasions so it was good to be out there with him again.”
The fact remains that the top order are simply not doing their jobs properly at the moment and three of the top four should hang their heads at gifting their wickets away so softly.
Cook, Joe Root and Moeen Ali must make it harder to get them out than it was here. Poor shot selections and a lack of concentration cost them dear. language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match”.
The two umpires did not hear Kohli’s comments, although TV cameras showed him saying something in stokes’ direction.
Without knowing what Kohli said, the umpires could only And if India had been able to catch, it would have been even worse.
Thank goodness then for Bairstow, who has got better and better with each passing game and grabbed his move up to five in the order with both hands.
He has developed into a truly worldclass cricketer this year and could yet score more runs in a calendar year than any Englishman before him.
“I’d like to think I’ve repaid the faith that they’ve shown in me by putting me at five,” he added.
“But I don’t change my approach, it is about scoring as many as you can in any situation.
“It is about finding a method and a mindset to score runs and stay out there as long as possible. There is a rhythm to it and it is just about finding a way.” sanction stokes for his response, leaving the england man with no option but to accept the punishment – although he is understood to be seething. stokes (left) received another demerit point as well as a fine in Bangladesh from the same match referee Ranjan Madugalle for “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game”, which means if he collects two more in the next two years he will face a ban.
When asked about the send off, the non-striker Jonny Bairstow said: “There are going to be words said, we’re adults, and that is the nature of professional sport.”