In the ongoing Ashes test between Australia and England at the SCG, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes rescued England’s ship by putting up a 128-run stand for the fifth wicket which helped England reach to a total of 294 in the first innings.
On Day 3 of the 4th test, the visitors were reduced to 36/4 in just 22 overs. All rounder Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow who is playing his second match of the series helped to move the scoreboard for the three lions. Stokes smashed 66 off 91 deliveries which comprised of 9 fours and a six while Jonny Bairstow replied with a ton.
England finished the Day with 258 runs on the board at the cost of 7 wickets.
However, an incident took place on the same day when the two batsmen were heading towards the dressing room after a hard fought second session. The duo were involved in a heated exchange with a few spectators near the Noble stand placed beside the pavilion. The spectators started passing some body shaming comments to the two English players out there.
A video of the same has been circulated in the net where the fan is heard saying,“Stokes, your fat. Take your jumper off, Bairstow, lose some weight Bairstow.”
While Stokes chose to not say anything, Bairstow fired back by saying, “Pal, that’s right just turn around and walk away.”
The security evicted the three fans out of the SCG after that incident.
Bairstow was asked about the same during the press conference. He said, “It was a bit of bad-mouthing. It’s not needed. We’re out there trying to do our jobs; people are there enjoying the cricket. Unfortunately, sometimes people overstep the mark.”
“I think it is important to stand up for ourselves because if we are not standing up for ourselves, you can cop it. When people overstep the mark, they need to be told. It’d have been nicer if we were there giving it when we walked off at the end, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, they weren’t there at the end, they missed the end of a fantastic day of Test cricket,” he added.
Earlier during team India’s tour to Australia in 2021, Mohammad Siraj was racially abused by a section of crowd in the SCG. At that time, six people were evicted from the stadium.