Watch: Jonny Bairstow carries 'Just Stop Oil' protestor out of boundary rope during 2nd Test in Ashes 2023 at Lord’s

On 28 June 2023, the second match of the ongoing Ashes series kicked off at the Lord’s. Speaking of the match, Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bowl first. Josh Tounge replaced Moeen Ali in the playing XI from the last game. Meanwhile, Australia replaced Scott Boland with Mitchell Starc in their playing XI from the last game.

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For the Aussies, David Warner and Usman Khawaja came out t bat. But, just after the first over, the game paused for a bit as some 'Just Stop Oil' protesters invaded the pitch. Both teams’ players intervened to prevent damage to the playing surface. But, the video went viral when, the England wicketkeeper, Jonny Bairstow was found lifting and carrying a protester out of the boundary.  

Here is the shared video: 

Jonny Bairstow just picked up a pitch invader and escorted him off the field #Ashes pic.twitter.com/BKEq95DYib

— Josh Schönafinger (@joshschon) June 28, 2023

England’s team bus got blocked by ‘Just Stop Oil’ protesters before the Ashes 2023 opener 

Bairstow was seen carrying an invader all the way to the boundary edge. The Ground Staff also came up with a rapid clean-up effort as the game did not pause for a longer time. Two protesters came with orange powder paint. Bairstow left the ground to change as his whites have been soiled. However, before the first Test, the England team bus got blocked by ‘Just Stop Oil’ protesters. Bairstow shared the image of that on his Instagram account and wrote: "If we're a bit late it's not our fault." However, the team reached on time and the match got started as per schedule. The Barmy army also shared a tweet regarding that matter.

Speaking about this protest, it is mainly for taking more action on climate change. These protesters have been blocking major roads and doing pitch inventions at several Premier League football grounds. Speaking of the match, after winning the toss, Stokes said: "I think the overheads have played a massive part in this. The wicket looks like it's got plenty of grass on it so hopefully we can exploit that this morning. We felt have the four seamers, we wanted a point of difference and Tonguey gives us that. I think Joe bowled well last week when he got responsibility with the ball. I think he's really enjoyed the challenge of coming on and changing the game with the ball."