Jonny Bairstow has provided his first in-depth reflection on his controversial stumping by Alex Carey in the second Test of the summer's Ashes.
When Bairstow walked out of his crease after the final ball of an over on the last day at Lord's, wicketkeeper Carey lobbed the ball underarm at the stumps and hit with Bairstow well out of his ground, oblivious to the fact the ball had been thrown. Over had not been called and he was given out by the TV umpire, but Australia's decision not to withdraw their appeal led to claims from the England players that the stumping, while legal, had not been in the spirit of the game.
The Australia players were verbally abused by fans and members in the pavilion as they left for lunch but went on to win the second Test by 43 runs.
The stumping incident underscored a tense drawn series. But Bairstow had remained quiet about it until the release of extracts from Lawrence Booth and Nick Hoult's new book Bazball: the Inside Story of a Test Cricket Revolution in the English newspaper the Telegraph on Monday.
"The decision was that I was out, and I moved on," Bairstow told the authors in an interview after a net session at The Oval prior to the fifth Test of the series. "I've not brought it up since. I've kept quiet. It's on them.
"If that's how they want to go about it and win a cricket game or what have you, then so be it."
England allrounder Moeen Ali, who was also quoted in the book, implied Australia and captain Pat Cummins missed the chance to exorcise any leftover demons from the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering saga, after which they were branded cheats.
"My view was it was out, obviously," Moeen told the authors of Bazball. "I just thought it was a great opportunity for Pat Cummins to put to bed a lot of the things that have happened previously.
"Not just put to bed, but take away that label they have had for a while with 'Sandpapergate'."
Bairstow said there was a difference between stumping a batter sneaking out of their crease for cynical purposes and catching a batter unaware, as Australia did.
"If you try to gain an advantage, then it's fair game," he said. "But if you're starting in your crease, you've ducked, tap, tap, scratched. I've even dragged my bat, looked up, and then gone.
"I've never seen it happen from someone starting in their crease. I don't think you want that filtering down into kids' cricket."
Bairstow also took issue with some of Australia's behaviour in the field. He cast doubt as to whether the ball hit the ground before Steven Smith controlled it to dismiss Joe Root on day two of the Lord's Test, and questioned an appeal for a catch by Marnus Labuschagne earlier in the series.
"There's conjecture around everything," he said. "Fingers underneath the ball when the ball's still touching the ground. Celebrating when the ball has touched the ground. Marnus celebrated at Edgbaston at short-leg.
"Then the one that 'Rooty' fell to at Lord's, when [Smith] said his fingers were underneath the ball. However, they were splayed widely. But that was given out, that's fine - it's part and parcel of the game and the decisions the umpires give."