Alex Carey received ‘nasty’ abuse after controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping at Lord’s

Alex Carey has revealed he and his Australia team-mates have taken some ‘nasty’ abuse since his controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s, but he has no regrets about the incident.

‘There’s some nasty stuff been said but…it is the Ashes,’ said Carey. ‘There was nasty stuff said before that as well. It’s one of those things where a stumping that’s given out on the field is turned into a massive story.

‘Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect that. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion on the spirit of cricket as well.

‘Not just myself, the whole group’s had some stuff spoken about them. But we’re really tight. We understand what’s important and who matters and those guys definitely have our back.

‘We’re all in it together, we were all out there, all walked through the Long Room together, post-match we all discussed it together. I don’t think the group would do anything differently.’

The England batsman (middle) was stumped in the fourth innings after Carey spotted him walking down the crease and rolled the ball onto the stumps 

The Australian players were verbally abused in the Long Room at Lord’s, which led to the suspension of three MCC members on a day when Australia took a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series, before England’s win at Headingley last week.

Speaking to the press for the first time since the incident, Carey said Australia had noticed Bairstow’s habit of leaving the crease immediately after each delivery.

‘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 (second left) revealed himself and his Australia team-mates received ‘nasty’ abuse after the incident

Australia captain Pat Cummins (pictured) insisted Carey had nothing to apologise for following the incident at Lord’s

‘When he ducked, his first movement was pretty much out of his crease, so I instinctively grabbed the ball, threw the stumps down and the rest is history,’ said Carey, 31.

He said he had tried the method before, after getting dismissed himself in a similar manner during a Sheffield Shield match.

‘My first A-grade game in South Australia, I was out that way. And when I walked off, I was pretty disappointed. The captain came up to me and said, “you’ll remember to keep your foot behind the line next time”.

‘From my point of view, I wasn’t called on it back when I’d have tried it about the spirit of cricket and when I was given out in the same sort of manner, I didn’t question it either.’