By: Drcricket7 Staff
After losing the Ashes, the Australians are desperate for wins. As if it doesn’t matter how it comes! Yes, Australia are playing some good cricket in the ongoing ODI series.
They crushed the hosts England by 64 runs at Lord’s and took a 2-0 lead in the Royal London One-day international series. But the second match of the ODI series will be remembered for another reason.
And, that is the dismissal of the England batsman Ben Stokes, who was given out while obstructing the field. It so happened that England were 141 for three, in reply to Australia’s 307 for seven, when Stokes drove the ball straight to the Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc and was about to steal a single.
The Australian fast bowler managed to field the ball, which prompted Ben Stokes to change his mind from taking the single. Seeing that the England middle-order batsman was outside the batting crease, Starc threw the ball towards the stumps at the striker’s end with an intention to run the batsman out.
In the meantime, Ben Stokes threw out his hand in defence while attempting to recover his ground. Starc thought that Ben Stokes might have prevented the ball from hitting the stumps and, therefore, appealed for Stokes’s wicket.
Both the umpires — Kumar Dharmasena and Tim Robinson — decided to consult the TV umpire Joel Wilson, who ruled that Stokes was seeking to save his wicket rather than himself, upholding the appeal.
This decision of the TV umpire led to a huge uproar everywhere. From the TV commentators to the social media, everyone discussed the legality of the decision, which came from the third umpire.
There were also quite a lot of voices who questioned Aussies’ spirit of the game. Some even suggested that Steven Smith, the Australian captain, should have withdrawn Starc’s appeal.
England captain Eoin Morgan exchanged a few words with Smith after Stokes was given out. Even after the match got over, Morgan again had a word with his Australian counterpart and he expressed his dissatisfaction over the controversial decision.
After all, England lost the match after Morgan’s individual brilliance (85). However, Smith had a little on his side to defend. Then, who was at fault? The umpires had just followed the books, but the Aussies could have certainly withdrawn the appeal. At least, the mass opinions suggest so!
