There seems to be no end to controversies in the ongoing Ashes 2023 series between England and Australia.
From the infamous Bairstow runout to the Alex Carey haircut, there have been plenty of stuff to debate throughout the series.
There was yet another such moment on Day 2 of the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval on Friday. It happened during the 78th over of Australia's innings when Steve Smith and Pat Cummins were batting with the score at 193/7, fighting hard to get near to England's first innings total of 283.
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Smith was batting on 42 at the time.
Steve Smith runout incident - What happened?
Smith worked the third ball of the over from Chris Woakes to midwicket and set for a quick two. Cummins responded but Smith found himself in trouble when George Ealham, a substitute fielder, rushed in got a throw to the wicket-keeper quickly.
Smith ended up putting in a huge dive to save himself and but it seemed Jonny Bairstow had managed to break the stumps before he reached the safety of the crease.
The England players were convinced Smith was out and were already celebrating and the initial replays of the runout also seemed to indicate that Smith was out of his crease when Bairstow broke the stumps.
George Ealham 🤝 Gary Pratt
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 28, 2023
An incredible piece of fielding but not to be... 😔 #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/yWcdV6ZAdH
However, after a prolonged inspection of the replays, the TV Umpire Nitin Menon adjudged Smith to be not out, much to the chagrin and surprise of the England team.
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Why did Nitin Menon give Steve Smith not out?
Though it seemed the stumps were broken before Smith got back in with a huge dive, upon closer inspection, the third umpire spotted that Bairstow had only managed to dislodge one end of a bail initially.
By the time both ends of the bail were dislodged, Smith had got back in by the barest of margins.
According to the cricket law book, Law 29.1 states: "The wicket is broken when at least one bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or one or more stumps is removed from the ground."
Also, MCC's Official Interpretation of the Laws of Cricket says that "For the purposes of dismissal – a bail has been removed at the moment that both ends of it leave their grooves."
In Steve Smith's case, only one end of the bail had left its groove and that is why Nitin Menon adjudged the Australia batsman not out.
What’s with the Ashes and substitute fielders. #ashes2023 #ashes2005 #garypratt #georgeeahlam
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) July 28, 2023
Have to applaud Nitin Menon for making the right decision 👏👏
But his decision was met with boos from the crowd with fans divided over the incident.
Steve Smith went on to score 71 runs and played his part in Australia reaching 295 in their first innings, with a small lead of 12 at the end of the day's play.
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