It is rare for a high-profile cricket series not to have its share of needle. But what happened on the final day of the Old Trafford Test between England and India on Sunday was probably beyond the realms of a mature game of Test cricket. England captain Ben Stokes and a few of his men behaved like kids being denied a packet of jelly beans after they urged Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to shut shop for the day when the gritty batsmen were within striking distance of their respective centuries.

Pundits pointed out that Stokes & Co landed a mighty blow on the spirit of cricket with their actions. The Englishmen’s behaviour attracted severe condemnation from even those who don’t believe in the spirit of cricket.

Stokes has been credited for revitalising English Test cricket (if not cricket in other parts of the world) through his implementation of Bazball, a term coined by an English journalist to describe England’s aggressive brand of cricket encouraged by their head coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum.