Watch: Matthew Wade obstructs Mark Wood to save his wicket, England refrains from appealing

The first T20I between Australia and England enthralled the fans with riveting cricketing action as both teams got involved in a thrilling encounter. However, one moment from the game has been going viral on the internet for the wrong reasons which has once again sparked debate around the ‘spirit of cricket’.

The incident took place in the 17^th over of the second innings which was bowled by Mark Wood. Wade tried to pull a short ball by Wood but only managed to top edge it. The ball went high up in the air as the fast bowler came forward to catch it. However, Wade blocked his path using his left hand making him unable to get underneath the ball.

Watch the video here:

He's still playing btw pic.twitter.com/EhQLqYbIwn

— Jazib (@JazibChaudry) October 9, 2022

England were clearly unhappy with Wade controversially protecting his wicket. But skipper Jos Buttler didn’t appeal to the umpires to rule the batter out for obstructing the field. In the post-match presentation, Buttler was asked about the incident where he revealed the reason behind not going for an appeal.

“I wasn’t sure what happened. They asked if I wanted to appeal, and I thought, ‘We’re here for a long time in Australia. It would be risky one to go for so early in the trip,” Buttler said.

Coming back to the match, England posted a massive 208 batting first courtesy of brilliant knocks from Jos Buttler and Alex Hales. Buttler scored 68 off 32 on his comeback after warming the bench for the entire series against Pakistan while Hales scored a magnificent 84 off 51. Nathan Ellis starred with the ball for Australia who picked up three wickets for 20 runs in his four overs.

Australia lost Cameron Green early in the chase but David Warner continued to attack the opposition right from the word go. He got good support from Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis who played brilliant cameos to keep their team in the hunt.

Following the controversial incident, Wade looked determined to take his team home but was eventually dismissed in the last over by Sam Curran with Australia requiring 12 from 3 balls. England sealed a win by 8 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Alex Hales was awarded ‘Player of the Match’ for his stupendous knock.