Australia beat England by 64 runs to win the second One-Day International at Lord’s on Saturday as it went 2-0 up in the five-match series.
But an otherwise routine win was overshadowed when England all-rounder Ben Stokes was controversially given out obstructing the field — a dismissal greeted by jeers.
Stokes struck a straight drive when he was on 10 which was stopped by bowler Mitchell Starc. The left-arm paceman then hurled the ball back hard towards Stokes’s end who, leaning back and turning his head away, stopped it with a hand taken off the bat.
Australia appealed and on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka and former England batsman Tim Robinson referred the issue to third umpire Joel Wilson.
The relevant cricket rule talks about “wilful obstruction” and does allow batsmen to protect themselves from injury.
After long deliberation and consideration of slow-motion, but not real-time replays, with Stokes not having much time to make a conscious decision, West Indian official Wilson gave him out. England was then 141 for four in the 25th over.
Sent in to bat, world champion Australia made 309 for seven in a match reduced by rain to 49 overs per side, captain Steven Smith top-scoring with 70 and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh making 64.
England in reply saw captain Eoin Morgan top-score with 85 before he was last man out in a total of 245. Fast bowler Pat Cummins took four for 56.
Warner out with injury Australia opener David Warner has been ruled out of the rest of the series because of an injury he suffered in the match.
He was struck a painful blow on the left thumb as he got in a tangle trying to play fast bowler Steven Finn’s second-ball bouncer.
He will now travel with the squad to Manchester, where the third of a five-match contest starts on Tuesday, and fly home on Monday, with a replacement to be announced, a Cricket Australia spokesman said.
