Ben Stokes bites back at Australian newspaper who photoshopped an image of him as a baby

Ben Stokes has hit back at an Australian newspaper on Twitter after they branded England ‘cry babies’ in the wake of the explosive second Ashes Test match.

Australia defeated England by 43 runs to go 2-0 up in the series, but the talk of the Test revolved around Jonny Bairstow’s controversial dismissal, a flash point in the game which has split opinion around the sporting world. 

With England mounting a late run chase, with Stokes and Bairstow out in the middle of the field, the wicketkeeper-batsman was stumped by Alex Carey in the most remarkable of circumstances, with the Englishman believing the ball to be dead, stepping out of his crease, before his opposite keeper dismissed him. 

Much to his own bafflement, the umpires signalled out, and Bairstow left the field, in what has been described by some as ‘just not cricket’, with England incensed by the decision and lack of sportsmanship. 

The incident has ignited the torch paper of a huge back and forth, with some, including Brad Hogg, slamming the Aussies for a ‘cheap’ dismissal, while Sir Geoffrey Boycott has demanded the tourists apologise to England following the events. 

In the news, the papers have been having their say on the matter, with the back pages of some Australian outlets dubbing the English as ‘hypocrites’, ‘wingers’ and ‘miserable poms.’

The back page of the Western Australian was posted on Twitter earlier today and depicted a photoshopped image of Ben Stokes wearing a nappy while sucking on a dummy. 

The image showed him reaching for a fairly unblemished looking cricket ball with the caption ‘Cry babies’ underneath. 

And Stokes has hit back at the image Tweeting in response: ‘That’s definitely not me, since when did I bowl with the new ball.’

It comes after the England captain admitted he ‘would not want to win a test match in the way Australia had’ and accused the tourists of ‘forgetting’ the spirit of the game. 

Stokes, who lead England’s run chase hitting a phenomenal 155, said after the match: ‘I am not disputing the fact it is out because it is out.

‘If the shoe was on the other foot, I would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked whether they had called over and had a deep think about the whole spirit of the game and whether I would want to do something like that.

‘For Australia, it was the match-winning moment. Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer is no,’ the 32-year-old added.

Cummins, conversely, was adamant that it was a lawful dismissal, citing an incident earlier on in the test where Bairstow had tried to catch David Warner out with a similar play. 

‘I thought it was fair,’ the Australian captain said. ‘You see Jonny do it all the time. He did it on Day One to Warner. He did it in 2019 to Steve [Smith]. It’s a really common thing for keepers to do if they see a batter keep on leaving their crease,’ said the Australia captain.

‘Caz [Carey] – full credit to him. He saw the opportunity a few balls beforehand and rolled at the stumps. Jonny left his crease and we’ll leave the rest to the umpires.’

More to follow…