Joe Root at centre of ‘spirit of cricket’ drama, Steve Smith left stunned

Joe Root at centre of ‘spirit of cricket’ drama, Steve Smith left stunned

The English are as much as their outdated tips once more, this time with former captain Joe Root trying to assert a grassed catch to dismiss Steve Smith on 0 off the bowling of Chris Woakes late on day three at Old Trafford.

Root’s response was telling after greedy the ball as he seemed instantly to the bottom and didn’t rejoice in any respect, however after a second of confusion the England group appeared to encourage the umpires to go upstairs – and out of the blue we had one other multi-replay evaluate on our arms.

Watch each sport of the Major League Cricket Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

As all the time, it was fairly troublesome to inform if the ball had carried or not on a lot of the digital camera angles, earlier than one was discovered that confirmed it hitting the deck.

Third umpire Kumar Dharmasena declared there was proof of the ball being grounded, and Smith survived.

“Steve Smith’s heart would have been in his mouth for a short while there,” stated Mark Butcher on commentary.

“But in the end Kumar Dharmasena has given the only decision he could have given.”

“I think a lot of the time you can go on the fielder’s reaction,” replied Ricky Ponting.

“There’s certain times when you’re 100 per cent positive you’ve caught it, I think if he was positive there, Joe, he would’ve thrown that straight up.

“The fact that he looked down at the ground as well, he actually kept his eyes down to see if he could find a spot where it might have touched the grass.

“They are so close, they are so touch and go. Making a decision there, if the ball has actually bounced up off of the ground and into the palm of his hand or whether it’s bounced up off the end of his fingers and gone up into the palm of his hand.

“There is so much doubt with those.

“The amount of technology we’ve got in the game, it’s still not got to the point where it’s 100 per cent clear on whether these catches do carry or not.”

Some Aussie viewers questioned the actions of Root.

“How’s the spirit of cricket on show there from Joe Root, claiming the catch when it clearly hit the ground,” tweeted Aussie journo Ronny Lerner.

“After seconds of contemplation, he was mouthing the words ‘that’s out’ a few times while raising his index finger.”

Smith would ultimately depart having added 17 to the whole in a brief cameo of his traditional twitches and eccentricities.

With an early full-blooded drive off Moeen Ali was minimize off spectacularly by Harry Brook signalling Smith’s intention to begin placing strain again on the English, Smith briefly went about his traditional business of flicking size deliveries to all components of the leg facet earlier than being dismissed by Mark Wood.

Wood got here broad of the crease to bang in a cross-seam bouncer at Smith’s ribs, seeing a half-baked try to show the ball across the nook ending up with a smooth contact on the gloves by means of to Jonny Bairstow for a easy catch and Wood’s a hundredth Test wicket.

The fourth day’s play at Old Trafford will get underway at 8pm AEST tonight with the Australians 4/113 and nonetheless trailing by 162 runs.

With torrential rain forecast for Manchester over the approaching two days and the Australians presently 2-1 up within the collection forward of the ultimate Test at The Oval, Pat Cummins and co will probably be seeking to the skies to avoid wasting them from nearly sure defeat at Old Trafford so as to retain the Ashes.

Originally revealed as Steve Smith survives catch controversy late on day three at Old Trafford

Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au