Ashes 2021: Jonny Bairstow & Ben Stokes fat-shamed by abusive fans during 4th Test at SCG

During the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney on Friday, England batters Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes were fat-shamed by a group of supporters as they came off the field for tea. Both batters were returning to the change room for tea after playing some decent cricket in the middle when the incident occurred.

As the English players arrived at the pavilion, a spectator was heard calling Stokes "fat" and demanding Bairstow remove his sweater and "lose some weight". Bairstow was spotted returning it to the Australian fan while instructing him to "turn around and walk away."

"That’s right. Just turn around and walk away. Weak as piss," Bairstow was heard telling the rude spectator after he tried to fat-shame the English batters.

As per reports, the concerned fans were later evicted from the stadium. While Stokes was dismissed for a well-made 66 off 91 balls, Bairstow went on to register the first English century of the ongoing Ashes series. When asked about the incident at the post-match press conference, Bairstow said that there are people in the crowd who overstep the mark sometimes. He also added that he thinks it's important to stand for oneself. 

"It was just a bit of bad-mouthing from the crowd, obviously it’s not the greatest, and it’s not needed. We’re out there trying to do our jobs, people are out there enjoying the day’s cricket. Unfortunately, sometimes you have people who overstep the mark. I think it’s important to stand up for ourselves because if we’re not standing up for ourselves as well then we can cop it, and especially when people overstep the mark they need to be told," Bairstow said in his post-match press conference. 

Ashes 2021-22, 4th Test

Bairstow finished his innings unbeaten on 113 off 158 balls, which also included 8 boundaries and 3 sixes. Meanwhile, England scored 294 runs in their first innings in reply to Australia 416/8d, which came on the back of a magnificent century by Australian batter Usman Khawaja, who hit a ton in his first match back since 2019. 

Australia, at the time of writing, were batting at 122/4 in their second innings. Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, and Steve Smith have been sent back to the pavilion for 27, 29, and 23 runs respectively. David Warner was dismissed for 3 runs by Mark Wood, who also removed Labuschagne. Meanwhile, Jack Leach picked up the wickets of Harris and Smith. 

Image: SydneyMorningHerald/Twitter