Ashes: With England four down, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow were battling out for survival when lady luck suddenly smiled upon them and how.
England have been completely outplayed in the Ashes series so far, with the hosts retaining the urn with two matches remaining, having taken an unbeatable 3-0 series lead. The fourth Test is currently being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground and things have pretty much gone the way of Aussies again. After winning the toss, Australia posted 418/8 declared with Usman Khawaja scoring a fine century. England, in reply, are struggling once again with the top four already back in the hut. But on Day 3, finally something seemed to go in England's favour.
With England four down, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow were battling out for survival when lady luck suddenly smiled upon the former.
In the 31st over, Cameron Green bowled a full-pitched delivery which Stokes decided to leave. The ball took a deflection and Australians appealed and Stokes was given out LBW by the on-field umpire. However, the England talisman immediately reviewed the decision and replays showed exactly why.
The ball was nowhere near his pads, in fact the deflection came from the ball cannoning into the off-stump but inexplicably the bails didn't dislodge and Stokes lived to fight another day.
Upon seeing the replay on the big screen, Stokes couldn't stop laughing even as the Australian players put their hands on their head in utter disbelief.At the time of writing this, Australia had crossed the 100-run mark with Stokes and Bairstow going strong.Earlier, Haseeb Hameed (6), Dawid Malan (3) and captain Joe Root (0) all fell for single digit scores with Australian pacer Scott Boland once again impressing with the ball.
Zak Crawley (18) put up a brief fight but his knock was ended prematurely by Boland.
-
Lady luck smiled on Ben Stokes and England on Day 3
-
Bails didn't fall after a Cameron Green delivery hit the off-stump
-
The LBW decision was also reversed after Stokes used DRSn the fourth Ashes Test match between Australia and England, a bizarre incident took place which shocked the cricketing world. The Australian players were in disbelief when Cameron Green’s delivery hit the stumps but the bails didn’t dislodge and remained intact. Ben Stokes got an extra life but Australian players couldn’t help but start nudging the stumps.
On day 3, Australia bowlers completely dominated the rain-affected first session where England lost four wickets as Scott Boland continued to trouble the visitors.
After Lunch, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow batted through the middle session to take the game to Australia, but still trailed Australia’s first innings 416 for eight declaration by 281 runs at tea.
At the interval, Stokes was unbeaten on 52 with Bairstow not out 45 in England’s 135 for four.Stokes had a massive slice of luck on 16 when he was given out, only to win a review when replays showed a Cameron Green delivery actually hit the off-stump but the bail somehow was not dislodged, much to his relief.
The Aussie players thought it was an LBW and appealed for that. The umpire gave Stokes out, who decided to take the review and the reply shocked everyone in the middle. While Stokes laughed looking at the replay on the big screen.
You must be logged in to post a comment.