England duo have the last laugh after posting crucial innings at the SCG
The England pair clearly took exception to something that was said as they were about to enter the visitors’ dressing room. Stokes stared down a member of the crowd, while Bairstow fired back in response. It’s believed three spectators were asked to leave the venue soon after.
A couple of hours later, Bairstow walked back to the dressing room in triumph after scoring an unbeaten century.
“It would be nicer if they were there giving it when we walked off at the end, wouldn’t it?” Bairstow said after the day’s play. “But unfortunately, they weren’t there at the end and they missed the end of a fantastic day’s Test cricket.”
Bairstow said the abuse was not on and the fans responsible needed to be told as much.
“It was just a bit of bad-mouthing from the crowd and obviously it’s not the greatest and it’s not needed,” he said. “We’re out there trying to do our jobs. People are out there, enjoying the day’s cricket and unfortunately sometimes you have people overstep the mark.
“It’s important to stand up for ourselves, because if we’re not standing up for ourselves as well, then you can cop it and especially when people overstep the mark, they need to be told.”
Cricket Australia (CA) conducted an investigation into the Siraj episode with NSW Police, clearing the six fans of racially abusing Siraj during the Test. However, CA also made it clear while releasing the result of the probe that “members of the Indian cricket team were subjected to racial abuse”.