London: Australia decided to stifle England's attack on the second day of the fifth Ashes Test, which resulted in a 12-run advantage for Australia. The talismanic batter Steve Smith led a lower-order effort that helped Australia surpass England's total.

He and captain Pat Cummins shared a 54-run partnership off 103 balls, which proved to be Australia's best partnership of the innings.

However, everyone present at The Oval—including Smith—seemed to believe that the stand had come to an end when it was only worth 10 runs and the former Australia captain appeared to have exhausted himself.

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Smith went for an overly ambitious second run after tapping Chris Woakes to midwicket off the third ball of the 78th over. George Ealham, a replacement fielder, entered the field and fired a gun throw to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

In the replay, it appeared at first glance that Smith was considerably outside of his crease. Even before he had begun to leave, the England players and fans had begun to cheer after seeing the video on the big screen, making his dismissal appear unavoidable.

What’s with the Ashes and substitute fielders. #ashes2023 #ashes2005 #garypratt #georgeeahlam

Have to applaud Nitin Menon for making the right decision ????????

— Ashwin ???????? (@ashwinravi99) July 28, 2023

However, third umpire Nitin Menon watched a few more replays and determined that Smith's bat had crossed the crease by the time the bails were fully detached from the stumps.

Most of the spectators at The Oval booed the choice. On the other hand, the Australian supporters were thrilled.

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Over the course of the remaining plays of the day, the commentators discussed the choice, which ultimately served only to highlight how wise Menon's choice was.

This was also evident in the social media comments; while most made fun of Menon immediately following the decision, he eventually began to receive praise, including from prominent Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Smith was on 44 coming off 85 at the time of the incident. After that, he scored 71 points out of 123 before losing to Woakes. Then, though, Todd Murphy's counterattack gave Australia a boost.

The bespectacled spinner had an innings with two fours and three sixes, scoring 34 runs off 39 balls. The day's play came to an end when Australia was eventually all out for 295 in response to England's 283, with the loss of their final wicket.

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