England all-rounder Ben Stokes: I put my hand out to protect myself

McCullum finished by cautioning England against getting too emotional about the matter, saying he regretted the Black Caps’ gleeful celebrations upon winning a game at The Oval off the last ball, after they were left fuming over Grant Elliott’s controversial run-out.

Weather: Per BBC Weather, the forecast suggests it will be overcast but dry.

“The umpires are there to do a job, to make a decision“.

Pat Cummins was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2-50 while bowling with searing pace, while Glenn Maxwell (2-56) claimed the big wickets of Morgan and Ben Stokes (14) to halt England’s progress when a score in excess of 330 looked likely.

Stokes had played an attempted drive off Australian pacer Mitchell Starc in the 26th over, but only succeeded in hitting the ball back to the bowler.

England coach Trevor Bayliss has congratulated Stokes for his measured response to the controversy.

Smith took exception to his opposite number Eoin Morgan’s suggestion that, in the Australia captain’s place, he would have withdrawn the appeal against Stokes. “But the decision was made, there’s nothing I can do but it wasn’t wilful whatsoever”. It was a natural reaction to avoid the ball. “It would have been a lot different if we were fielding”.

“It was wonderful. I couldn’t believe it”, Morgan told Sky Sports. “The fourth umpire saw it the same way we did”.

The departure of Coulter-Nile comes a few days after he stressed he did not have any long-term career goals “because I’ve never been on the park long-term”, due to struggles with mainly soft-tissue injuries. “There is a difference of opinion and you can understand both sides”.

Smith will have some new faces to welcome into his XI for the day-nighter in Manchester.

Australia will be without the services of David Warner after the opening batsman is ruled out of the series due to a fractured thumb.

Australia called up opening batsman Aaron Finch, wicketkeeper-batsman Peter Handscomb and seamer John Hastings as replacements for the sidelined trio, according to BBC Sport.

Smith said England had made a good total.

Stokes hasn’t had much going for him with the bat, while Jos Buttler’s twin failures have seen him jettisoned from the team in favour of Jonny Bairstow. It is their eternal contention that the ball accidentally touched them, quite as if it was an animate object with a will of its own.

Having sat out the defeat at Lord’s, Mark Wood could come back into contention.

The all-rounder has spelled out too that he was simply trying to protect himself from Mitchell Starc’s shy at the stumps when he contorted in mid-air but intercepted the attempted run-out with an outstretched left hand.

Stokes’ dismissal helped Australia make a comeback in the game as wickets fell at regular interval and England were bowled out for 245 runs with six overs to spare. England won the match by 23 runs.