England defeated Australia in a high-scoring thriller to go 1-0 up in the series. Chasing a daunting target of 209, David Warner whacked a blazing half-century to set Australia up for a record chase. However, England held their nerves to win the game by eight runs.
READ: Watch: Haider Ali hits a monstrous six in the match between Pakistan-New Zealand
Meanwhile, a bizarre incident during Australia’s chase has got the internet buzzing. In the 17th over, when Australia needed 40 runs in 4 overs with David Warner and Matthew Wade set at the crease, Wade top-edged a delivery to the helmet which lobbed up in the air.
The bowler, Mark Wood, saw an opportunity for a catch and came charging in, however, he was surprisingly stopped by Matthew Wade. Wade though got away and was not given out (handling the ball) by the umpires.
Watch the video below
The CEO of Sportsman Spirit, M Wade, stopping M Wood from catching the ball!!
The OZs@azkhawaja1 pic.twitter.com/zAsJl6gpqz
— WaQas Ahmad (@waqasaAhmad8) October 9, 2022
England captain Jos Buttler raised his arms in doubt, but the visitors did not appeal and Wade was spared.
Netizens reacted to this incident by terming it as cheating
Are Ruk Jao Wood Bhai. Kahan catch lene ja rahe ho.#Wade #MatthewWade #MarkWood #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/Qm54TO0lLj
— Avinash Aryan (@AvinashArya09) October 9, 2022
Should we laugh? This is an international cricket & #MatthewWade tries to stop mark wood from catching the ball. Absolutely pathetic by wade! pic.twitter.com/E43jcTfXTR
— Dhananjay Kumar (@DkReportsHere) October 9, 2022
WHAT A SCENE!#MarkWood was running to catch the ball and #MatthewWade pushed him away!
And #England didn’t appeal!
Is this SPIRIT OF THE GAME?#ENGvAUS #EngvsAus #AUSvENG #AUSvsENG pic.twitter.com/cML1c9kQcY
— BlueCap (@IndianzCricket) October 9, 2022
India – Bunch of Pranksters
Australia – Bunch of Cheaters #matthewwade #ausvseng pic.twitter.com/qV4d7CnpBF
— Md Nazim Raza (@MdNazimRaza10) October 9, 2022
Wade, however, could not take Australia over the line as he fell in the final over to Sam Curran. England went on to win the high-scoring thriller by eight runs.
Alex Hales and Jos Buttler gave the visitors the perfect start, putting on an opening stand of 132 runs. Hales hit 84 off 51 deliveries, while Buttler smashed 68 off just 32 balls.
As the rest of the batters failed to fire, Chris Woakes hit an unbeaten 13 off 7 to help power them to 208/6.
Mark Wood then took three key wickets to help restrict Australia to 200/9 as England took a 1-0 series lead.
