London: The second half of the morning session on Day 5 did see some absolute carnage from Ben Stokes, who sped to his Test century to keep England hopes alive and might just pull off a Headingley-like classic on Sunday afternoon at Lord's.
However, the most talked-about and replayed moment of the entertaining second Ashes Test will be that odd run out of Jonny Bairstow. Even though Australia's wicketkeeper Alex Carey executed a brilliant glove move, Bairstow's bizarre action was what ultimately led to his dismissal.
Moments before lunch on the final day of the Test match, where England was attempting to tie the series at one game each after Australia's victory in Birmingham, it occurred in the 52nd over. Bairstow dodged a short, wide ball of off from Cameron Green before immediately turning to face his partner Stokes.
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Instead of checking with the wicketkeeper or the player(s) in the slip before moving to the other end as is customary, Bairstow casually walked out of the crease.
Carey, who was fully aware of what was happening, under-armed the ball from his stance towards the stumps and removed the bails. Bairstow was left totally shell-shocked and confused at the sight of it and possibly with the prospect of it because there was an immediate appeal to follow. Stokes and Bairstow got surrounded by a few Australian players as they traded insults.
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Marais Erasmus, the TV umpire, quickly reviewed the replays and declared it to be invalid. A ball is deemed "finally settled," which "is a matter for the umpire alone to decide," in accordance with Law 20.
Umpire Ahsan Raza had not even declared it over at that point. Later on in the commentary for Sky Sports, the former captain of England Mike Atherton read out a message from the former award-winning umpire Simon Taufel, who stated that the ball is not ruled dead until "both sides disregard that the ball is in play."
After the incident, the Lord's fans started yelling, "Shame old Aussies, always cheating," and they continued to roar loudly at each boundary that Stokes made. In the meantime, there were a lot of comments being spoken as new batter Stuart Broad was spotted tapping his bat at both ends while glancing at the umpire each time.
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