Former Australia captain Steven Smith was involved in an atypical dismissal in the ongoing third Australia-England ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Well within his right to wait for umpire Paul Wilson’s decision, Smith stood his ground in spite of England captain Jos Buttler appealing confidently from behind the wickets.
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It all happened on the third delivery of the 46th over when England fast bowler Olly Stone adjusted well to Smith’s substantial shuffling across the batting crease. Following the batter with a short delivery, Stone witnessed Smith trying to guide the ball through the fine-leg region.
Failing to do so, all the right-handed batter did was glove the ball to Buttler. With the wicket-keeper perhaps the only English fielder to appeal relentlessly, he even signaled for a DRS in order to not waste a lot of time.
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Wilson, who took his time or perhaps was hoping for Smith to walk on his own, eventually raised his finger after Smith was heard saying “he’s not given that out”. The confusion was ultimately solved as Smith starting walking back to the pavilion after scoring 21 (16) with the help of two fours.
Steve Smith waits for Paul Wilson to give him out amid confident Jos Buttler appeal in bizarre dismissal at the MCG
Stone, who picked his third wicket in the form of Smith, even dismissed Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh (30) to pick four wickets for the first time in an ODI innings. Stone, however, was the most expensive English bowlers at the MCG tonight on the back of leaking 85 runs in his 10-over spell.
In what was a field day for Australian batters, they put on board a formidable 355/5 in 48 overs after two overs were lost due to a rain-break at the venue. Second-best partnership for Australian batters in this format, Australia thrived due to opening batters Travis Head (152) and David Warner (106) scoring individual centuries in a 229-ball 269-run opening partnership.
