Ashes’ short fuses shatter monastic calm of Lord’s Long Room

Ashes' short fuses shatter monastic calm of lord's long room0

It has been said that it has “the most evocative four walls in world cricket,” and it is a place where one can watch the game in an ambience that is so serene that it is almost monastic, away from the hubbub of the crowd.

After the controversial dismissal of England’s Jonny Bairstow, members of the Marylebone Cricket Club turned the normally peaceful Long Room at Lord’s into a seething cauldron of hate on Sunday. They verbally abused Australia players as they returned from the field during a lunch break on the final day of the second Ashes Test. The match was in its final day.

They, along with supporters all across the pitch, were outraged by an incident in which the wicketkeeper for Australia, Alex Carey, threw the ball towards the stumps after Bairstow moved out of his crease after ducking under a Cameron Green bouncer.

At the conclusion of the over, it appeared as though Bairstow felt the ball had died; however, his teammates in the middle referred the situation to the TV umpire, Marais Erasmus, who afterwards confirmed that the batsman had been stumped.

The normally subdued audience at the ‘Home of Cricket’ replied by yelling “Same old Aussies, always cheating” while boos resonated throughout the historic old arena in northwest London for many minutes.

In the end, Australia prevailed against England by a score of 43 runs to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the five-game Ashes series. England’s captain, Ben Stokes, scored an incredible 155 throughout the match.

Later on, the humiliated MCC sent a “unreserved apology” to the touring side. Club secretary Guy Lavender said that three members “directly involved” in the lunchtime altercation had been suspended immediately awaiting an inquiry. The incident had caused the MCC to feel embarrassed.

Since the 1980 Centenary Test between England and Australia, when umpire David Constant was manhandled on his way into the pavilion by members furious at a lack of play following many weather delays, Lord’s has not seen anything quite like it since.

Cricket is one of the few sports that makes such a big deal about the so-called “spirit of the game.”

Even though it has been more than 50 years since it stopped operating the English game, the MCC is still very concerned with the comprehensive regulations of cricket since it is still responsible for enforcing those laws elsewhere in the globe. These rules are known as the Laws.

Even while England’s captain, Ben Stokes, acknowledged that Erasmus had made the proper judgment, he questioned whether Australia should have continued with the appeal. The Bairstow controversy was a typical example of this type of dispute.

The Lord’s pavilion, which was constructed between 1889 and 1890, is still considered to be one of the most iconic structures in all of cricket. The Long Room is so named because it takes up virtually the entirety of the ground floor and is decorated with paintings and photographs of some of the greatest players in the history of the game, ranging from WG Grace to the heroes of today.

Finding their way out of the dressing rooms near the top of the pavilion and through the Long Room before entering the field has historically been the most difficult challenge for cricketers who are not familiar with Lord’s. England batsman David Steele got lost on his Test debut in 1975 and ended up in the basement toilets.

It wasn’t until 1998 that women were finally admitted into the pavilion after the MCC agreed to accept female members, bringing an end to the club’s status as a men-only establishment after more than 200 years. Despite this, an exception had been granted for Queen Elizabeth II of Britain for quite some time.

There is currently an approximate 20-year wait to become a member of the MCC’s 18,000 strong membership and join the likes of former British prime ministers Alec Douglas-Home and John Major, rock musician Mick Jagger, and actor and comedian Stephen Fry, who serves as the current president of the MCC, in watching cricket from the Long Room.

When passing into the Long Room, former Australia batsman and coach Justin Langer famously described the experience as being similar to “being bearhugged by an invisible spirit.”

There was little that was “invisible” about the altercation that took place on Sunday, however, as television cameras captured a heated confrontation between members of the MCC and both Usman Khawaja and David Warner of Australia.

Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia, revealed that the MCC has issued an apology for the behavior of some of its members. Because of how they conducted themselves, it’s possible that some of them may lose their membership. They were wonderful the whole week, with the exception of that one occasion.”

After that, Cummins made a statement about the famously rowdy stadium in Birmingham where the first match of the series will take place. This will be a blow to the MCC’s leadership.

“I think just standards that are held by the members are maybe a bit different to what you expect from certain members of the crowd at Edgbaston,” he added. “I think just standards that are held by the members are maybe a bit different to what you expect.”

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