Will Alex Carey be forever known as the Diego Maradona of Ashes cricket?

Scant consolation for England?

Probably. After one of the most exciting five-match series, the English cricketing nation is left with very much a feeling of what might have been.

England should have regained the urn, whether it’s down to effectively throwing away the first Test at Edgbaston, the ‘English’ weather at Old Trafford or perhaps the most significant. the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow by Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey at Lord’s with England looking well positioned to chase down the target of 371 on the fifth day of the second Test.

Was the ball dead? Was Bairstow at fault? Whilst covered within the rulebook, were the actions of Carey within the spirit of the game?

Was Stuart Broad speaking not just for himself but for an entire cricketing nation when he told Carey on his arrival at the crease “You will be forever remembered for what you did”?

We will never know if England, with Bairstow still at the crease. would have chased that total down and levelled the series at 1-1, I, like thousands of other cricket fans, believed they would have, so basically did the perceived unsporting actions of Carey effectively change the entire course of the series?

The whole situation could and should have been put to bed there and then, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins could have withdrawn the appeal, and the 53rd over could have started without any controversy.

Does that in itself typify the Aussies’ win-at-all-costs attitude when it comes to the Ashes?

A generation of football fans believe Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ in 1986 cheated England out of potential World Cup victory against Argentina, who went on to win the whole tournament, so there is forever that nagging thought of what might have been.

But do the events at Lords on July 2 slide into the same category?

The retiring Broad has it 100% right, Carey could take 10 catches in a Test, hit six sixes, score a double hundred in record time, but the footage of that stumping will be eternally replayed. He will be forever remembered in Ashes history but for all the wrong reasons.

Perhaps a short holiday on the Gold Coast with another notorious Aussie cricketer, Trevor Chappell, will prepare him for the rest of his career and beyond?