Some Ashes moments grow far beyond the instant itself, and evolve into a reminder of why the rivalry between Australia and England is so strong.
Alex Carey’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow on Day 5 of the second Test at Lord’s during the 2023 series is now the modern-day epitome of that hostility.
In fact, of every moment on our countdown list, only Stuart Broad not walking after edging the ball to first slip in 2013 comes close to dividing the two nations as greatly as this infamous act.
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Trailing Australia 1-nil and chasing a daunting fourth innings target of 371, England entered Day 5 at 4/114, with all of Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Harry Brook back in the sheds — courtesy of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins wreaking havoc the evening prior.
It left them needing 257 more runs to level the series, and huge weight was on the shoulders of opener Ben Duckett and captain Ben Stokes. The pair had put on 69 runs before stumps on Day 4, with the former bringing up a half-century not long before the close of play.
Tensions were already high, after Duckett was ‘caught’ by Starc at fine leg right before close on the penultimate day, top-edging a Cam Green short ball behind the wicket that the left-arm quick swallow, diving to his left.
It was the act in the bottom right of this photo that saw umpires call Ben Duckett back to the crease (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesStarc celebrates his magnificent grab — only to have his efforts deemed in vain by the third umpire upon reviewSource: Getty Images
The catch looked as regulation as any to the naked eye, but upon closer inspection, the ball in his left hand was deemed to make front-on contact with the ground before he had ‘full control’ over the catch. It was a ruling that divided plenty and angered Australia, but the visitors still went into the final day in full control.
Duckett picked up right where he left off in the opening session, however eventually fell on 83 — top-edging once more, this time through to Carey who took an outstanding one-handed catch.
Enter, Jonny Bairstow.
The burly right-hander walked to the crease with England still needing 194 runs to win. A run-a-ball 78 in the first innings of the first Test kickstarted his series on a high, however his methods of dismissal often lacked smarts.
Simply put, his attention to detail had already failed him in the series.
Australian cricket team lands in Perth | 00:36
The Yorkshireman pummelled two boundaries through mid-wicket inside his first 11 balls, and looked switched on from the get-go.
That was until his 22nd and final delivery for the innings.
Amid a match that is somewhat infamously known for perennial short-ball bowling from both sides, it was fitting that the delivery in question was a bouncer.
“It was like, ‘this wicket is pretty slow, not much happening. What do you reckon? Just bowl short?” Josh Hazlewood told foxsports.com.au when remembering bowlers’ discussions with captain Pat Cummins on the day.
“Patty’s like, ‘I think that’s a good idea’. So that’s what we did.”
Cam Green dug a 129km/h ball into the lifeless Lord’s wicket, keeping somewhat low as Bairstow ducked underneath. The Duke ball bounced a second time before reaching Carey, who instantaneously underarmed the ball straight back at the stumps between he and Bairstow.
Momentarily after the ball leaves Carey’s gloves, his English counterpart scratches the crease sideways, and walks down the pitch — totally oblivious to the ball now heading in his direction.
Carey’s throw hits leg stump, with neither umpire yet to call ‘over’. The Aussie keeper, captain Cummins and substitute fielder at short leg Matthew Renshaw celebrate instantly, with Bairstow’s confusion quickly turning into disbelief.
Four men in this frame are in total confusion. The other three, Carey, Cummins and Renshaw (far left) are adamant Australia has picked up their sixth wicket for the innings (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“For it to bounce in front of him, and in one movement underarm and hit the stumps — it just worked out beautifully. It was actually just brilliant, so good,” Australian limited-overs great Glenn Maxwell told foxsports.com.au this spring.
Veteran Usman Khawaja added: “I just laugh (watching it), because it’s like, he just walked straight out of his crease! The execution from Carey was unbelievable.
“Jonny was trying to get me out stumped the same way off a spinner at Edgbaston. I almost lost my footing, and Jonny was just waiting there for five, six seconds.
“We couldn’t have done it if Jonny wasn’t (leaving his crease) every ball”.
Umpires Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney were caught off-guard by the stumping appeal, leaving them to send a final verdict upstairs to Marais Erasmus.
Hang it in the Louvre?Source: Channel 9
The verdict was loud and clear, which saw Bairstow depart swiftly after a brief discussion with the Australian team huddled by the side of the pitch.
Chaos ensued, with the Lord’s faithful absolutely losing their mind in a way many never thought was possible at the prestigious, high-class venue.
“It was a pretty crazy day … I was running the drinks that Test match. So, I sort of got to see it all change rooms and see how it all unfolded,” Australian T20 captain Mitch Marsh told Fox Sports.
“I thought it was blatantly out.”
With steam proverbially coming out of his ears, a fired-up Stuart Broad strode to the crease with England still needing another 178 runs for a very unlikely victory.
“That’s all you’ll ever be remembered for,” Broad told Carey almost instantly after he strode to the crease, with Carey simply replying: “Yeah”.
Australia’s stumping sent Stokes into overdrive, replicating his Headingley heroics back in 2019 all over again to the tune of English fans chanting: “same old Aussies, always cheating”.
The left-handed bat went absolutely ballistic to the bowling of Green in the overs after Bairstow’s wicket, including three consecutive sixes on the leg side to bring up his 13th Test hundred.
Stokes went into lunch on Day 5 sitting pretty at 108 not out, as the Aussies were absolutely peppered with abuse from the MCC members upon their arrival to the Long Room. In fact, the historic area descended into animalistic anarchy.
Though not part of the team on that day, Maxwell and Matthew Kuhnemann said their Aussie counterparts had told them of the madness in the Long Room, presenting them with stories of a shocking scene.
“A few of the boys said they were frothing at the mouth,” Maxwell recalled.
“I remember Marnus saying that. ‘One old bloke was frothing at the mouth yelling at me’.
“Oh my god, grown men…”
Kuhnemann said that having seen the Long Room himself during the World Test Championship in mid-2025, he grew even more shocked at the story.
“I couldn’t believe how small it was,” he said.
“So when you look at that and it kicking off in there … the boys said it was one of the craziest things they had ever experienced.”
Hazlewood, however, said that for a country lad from Bendemeer it was water off a duck’s back.
“It’s not a very intimidating room to be honest,” he joked.
“They’re all old guys from London and so a country guy walks through and it’s pretty cruisy.”
Australian players are heckled as they pass through the Long Room of LordsSource: Supplied
One MCC patron received a lifetime ban for “abusive, offensive or inappropriate behaviour or language” directed towards Khawaja, in what was the most extreme example made of those in the Long Room.
It was the flashpoint that ignited everything that followed.
Lunch at Lord’s was reportedly explosive. Speaking to The Grade Cricketer later that year, Labuschagne said Bairstow was “absolutely steaming” and asked Australian players “are you guys happy with that”.
“Dave Warner’s spitting out his chicken and goes, ‘yeah, very’. The only word said,” Labuschagne added.
Speaking to foxsports.com.au before the Ashes, Starc said the lunch was the “best moment” of the whole incident.
“I wasn’t even there, but apparently the lunch room was pretty cool,” Starc said.
“A bit icy, a bit funny. Some funny lines dropped there.”
After lunch, Stokes’ continued counter-attack kept England in the contest well into the afternoon, and with Steve Smith dropping him on the boundary not long after lunch, the unthinkable looked a serious possibility.
History in this instance didn’t repeat though, when he miscued a short ball from Josh Hazlewood on 155 with his side still needing 70 runs to win. His out-of-this-world knock that saw nine sixes and as many fours ended, and the result suddenly became inevitable; so shallow was their tail.
England were bowled out for 327, handing Australia a famous 43-run victory and a 2–0 stranglehold on the series.
Warner & Broad reunite at Lords | 01:02
The irony around Bairstow’s outrage regarding his decision became much clearer in the aftermath, with vision of him trying to do the very same act with Marnus Labuschagne only two days prior surfacing — in addition to several stumping attempts of a similar intent earlier in his domestic career.
Meanwhile, Labuschagne said that targeting Bairstow in this manner was nothing new. Cricketers long knew of his folly after deliveries.
He said that the fact that it happened at the end of the over, and not in the middle, added to the complexity of the debate around whether the wicket was in the spirit of the game.
“I played with Jonny earlier in the year and we tried to do the same thing,” Labuschagne said. “We tried to run him out because he was just doing it mid-over.
“The argument was ‘is it over, or not over’. If it happened fourth ball and he was just wandering out of his crease, there’d certainly be no questions…
“That’s probably where I sit. He was doing it consistently and I’ve seen him do that a lot.”
Beyond Bairstow, politicians weighed in, former captains traded barbs, and the MCC was forced into a rare public apology for the behaviour of its members. And who could forget England’s coach Brendan McCullum stating he “can’t imagine having a beer with them (Australia) any time soon”, despite attempting the same act on Paul Collingwood all the way back in 2009.
Carey’s stumping of Bairstow was a flashpoint that reminded both nations why the Ashes remains the most emotionally charged contest in world cricket.
ASHES GREATEST 25 — COUNTDOWN SO FAR
4. Alex Carey stumps Jonny Bairstow, Lord’s 2023
5. Scott Boland’s 6/7 on Test debut, Melbourne 2021/22
6. Michael Hussey winning runs, Amazing Adelaide 2006/07
7. Mitchell Starc bowls Rory Burns first ball of the Ashes, Brisbane 2021/22
8. Peter Siddle hat-trick on his birthday, Brisbane 2010/11
9. Steve Smith’s back-to-back tons after ball-tampering, Edgbaston 2019
10. Stuart Broad not walking, Trent Bridge 2013
11. Steve Harmison wide first ball of the Ashes, Brisbane 2006/07
12. Adam Gilchrist 48-ball hundred, Perth 2006/07
13. Stuart Broad’s 8/15, Trent Bridge 2015
14. Flintoff/Lee embrace, Edgbaston 2005
15. Ryan Harris gets Alastair Cook first ball, Perth 2013/14
16. Gary Pratt running out Ricky Ponting, Trent Bridge 2005
17. Steve Smith hit by Jofra Archer, Lord’s 2019
18. Ashton Agar 98 batting at 11 on debut, Trent Bridge 2013
20. Warne/McGrath/Langer retire, Sydney 2006/07
21. Monty Panesar/James Anderson 10th wicket partnership, Cardiff 2009
22. Mitchell Johnson bowls Stuart Broad, glares at Jimmy Anderson in 7-fa, 2013/14
23. Mitchell Starc’s unplayable ball to James Vince, Perth 2017/18
24. Steve Waugh century on the ground at The Oval, 2001
25. Nasser Hussain wins toss and bowls, Brisbane 2002/03