Test match at Lord's

[Alan Walton]

If you go back you see many instances of the spirit being broken, it has always been about winning (Bodyline in the 1930s being a famous example); that's why I don't care about how this dismissal came about, just accept it and learn from your mistake; Stokes, saying he wouldn't have done it is easy sound-bite, until he's in a similar actual position then I will then believe him

[Mick Norris]

Just hope that we get equally exciting finishes to the next two Tests, with the opposite result, setting things up perfectly for the finale. The Australia pace attack are good though, and they have some decent batsmen as well! No real need for the extra spice, but it clearly did fire Stokes up. Wonder what the changes will be for the third Test? The fear is that the England team might run out of steam at some point in a hectic schedule.

Not sure Pope will be fit; if Wood is fit, I'd expect him to play at Headingly; Moeen too; depends how much Lords took out of Anderson, Broad, Robinson & Tongue

I'd like to see Foakes as wicketkeeper

[Kevin Thurlow]

Although I'm (quite rightly) a proud Yorkshireman, I agree that Foakes is a better keeper, but Bairstow is a fine batsman, so hope he can remain in the team. And apart from this lapse, he is inspiring.

[Mick Norris]

There's a 15 man squad announced with Ahmed and Potts dropping out, so no room for Foakes

Wood and Woakes are bowling options along with Moeen

I assume Lawrence is the batting replacement if Pope isn't fit

[Martin Benjamin]

I think there is and needs to be an indefinable "spirit of the game", otherwise the game could become unplayable if you simply follow the laws. One example: the rules entitle wicket keepers to break the stumps after every delivery in case the batsman is out of his crease, or allow bowlers to pull out of their delivery to check that the non-striker is not out of his crease before every delivery, but if wicket keepers and bowlers did that every ball or even quite frequently, an already slow over rate would slow to a crawl and the game would be more or less unplayable. However, they would be playing according to the laws of the game.

The whole point of the "spirit of cricket" is that it covers actions and behaviour which no one thinks is acceptable, but which can not be adequately defined by the laws of the game.

If sport is not played in the right spirit, it loses a lot of the point of playing it and watching it.

[Nick Ivell]

Well said Martin!

For once I agree with Boycott. Bairstow was a fool, but sought no advantage.

[Alan Walton]

I read an interesting article (can't remember where exactly) that the "spirit of the game" never really has been there, it mentioned an England dirty trick by WG Grace in the match against Australia in the originating Ashes match; and there has been numerous transgressions over the years

Jason Gillespie said if you have strong laws and play within them correctly (like keeping yourself in the crease until told), then the spirit plays itself out; his argument was each country has differing views on the game; we look at it from an English perspective, what right do we have to push that on other countries?

[Matt Mackenzie]

Australia bowling underarm in the last ball of a one day game around 40 years ago remains one of the most infamous instances of gamesmanship.

This was also within the rules at the time, though that was altered subsequently.

As was the case with deliberately losing a one day cup game in the group section, as Brian Rose (captain of Somerset) did around that time.

[Nick Ivell]

That gets me thinking of Greg Chappell.

Strange how partisan this incident has made me. When I first saw Greg bat in the Ashes at Headingley, there was a roar when he was out; but I was sad, because I enjoyed his batting so much.

[Mick Norris]

There's a 15 man squad announced with Ahmed and Potts dropping out, so no room for Foakes

Wood and Woakes are bowling options along with Moeen

I assume Lawrence is the batting replacement if Pope isn't fit

Pope is out of the rest of the series

No one being added to the squad for Headingley, so Lawrence will presumably play

We might see Root move up to 3

[Paul Habershon]

I read an interesting article (can't remember where exactly) that the "spirit of the game" never really has been there, it mentioned an England dirty trick by WG Grace in the match against Australia in the originating Ashes match; and there has been numerous transgressions over the years

Jason Gillespie said if you have strong laws and play within them correctly (like keeping yourself in the crease until told), then the spirit plays itself out; his argument was each country has differing views on the game; we look at it from an English perspective, what right do we have to push that on other countries?

'Times' journalists and ex-test cricketers, Mike Atherton and Steve James, both supported the umpires' decision and had little sympathy with Bairstow. Atherton, of course, has some history involving sawdust.

Pedantic note: thread title is missing an important apostrophe and it could easily be put in the wrong place if you don't know your cricket history.

[John Townsend]

Thanks, Paul. I've changed the initial post to "Lord's", but I don't know if anything can be done regarding all the subsequent posts.

[Alan Walton]

Just watch a Indian TV cricket show round-up of the incident, and they are scathing about the attitude of the English reaction, even the Empire was thrown into the mix about forcing their views on others

Then suddenly they showed the video of Bairstow doing something very similar to Samit Patel a few years ago, Samit started to walk out of his crease thinking the ball was dead (the umpire had already declared the ball as wide), Bairstow who had caught the ball waited for the foot to be lifted and stump him, he was praised for it at the time for quick thinking

[Mick Norris]

Team for Headingley is Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson.

[John Townsend]

After Lord's, I hesitate to mention that England now need 60 runs to win the third test at Headingley - four wickets standing again.