Ben Stokes bites back at the Australian newspaper for photoshopping a picture of him as a baby

Ben Stokes has taken to Twitter to respond to an Australian newspaper after they labeled England ‘cry babies’ in the aftermath of the explosive second Ashes Test match.

Australia beat England by 43 runs to go 2-0 in the series, but the talk of the Test revolved around the controversial sacking of Jonny Bairstow, a flashpoint in the game that divided opinion in the sporting world.

The wicket-keeper batsman was stunned by Alex Carey in shocking circumstances, with the Englishman, thinking the ball dead, stepping out of his crease, before his other keeper dismissed him.

To his own dismay, the umpires signaled and Bairstow left the field, in what has been described by some as ‘just not cricket’, with England enraged by the decision and lack of sportsmanship.

The incident has sparked a huge back-and-forth on the interface, with some, including Brad Hogg, berating the Aussies for a ‘cheap’ redundancy, while Sir Geoffrey Boycott has demanded that the tourists apologize to England after the events.

Stuart Broad arrived at the crease in Bairstow’s wake and sarcastically criticized the Aussies, telling them several times when he was in, while also berating Carey, saying “That’s all you’ll be remembered for.”

In the news, the newspapers have had their say on the matter, with some Australian outlets provoking an uproar from the British.

The back pages of some outlets down under have labeled the English as ‘hypocrites’, ‘wingers’ and ‘miserable poms’.

The Western Australian’s back page was posted to Twitter earlier today and showed a photoshopped image of Ben Stokes wearing a diaper while sucking a pacifier.

The image showed him reaching for a fairly immaculate cricket ball with the inscription ‘Cry babies’ underneath.

And Stokes hit back at the image Tweeting in response: ‘I’m definitely not, since when do I bowl the new ball.’

It comes after the England captain admitted he “wouldn’t want to win a test match like Australia had” and accused the tourists of “forgetting” the spirit of the game.

Stokes, who led England’s pursuit with a phenomenal 155, said after the game: ‘I don’t dispute it’s out because it’s out.

“If the boot was on the other foot I would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked if they had called and thought deeply about the whole spirit of the game and if I would like to do something like that.

This was the winning moment for Australia. Would I want to win a match that way? The answer is no,” added the 32-year-old.

Cummins, on the other hand, was adamant it was a lawful dismissal, citing an incident earlier in the Test where Bairstow had tried to catch David Warner playing a similar game.

“I thought it was fair,” said the Australian captain. “You see Jonny doing it all the time. He did it for Warner on day one. He did it in 2019 with Steve [Smith]. It’s very common for goalkeepers to do when they see a batsman keep leaving their goal,” said the Australia captain.

Kaz [Carey] – all glory to him. He saw his chance clean a few balls in advance and rolled on the stumps. Jonny has left his fold and we’ll leave the rest to the referees.’

More to follow…