Maxwell Stokes the fire after controversial dismissal

Ben Stokes has insisted he did not wilfully block Mitchell Starc’s throw with his outstretched hand – which led to him being given out obstructing the field – during the second One-Day worldwide between England and Australia at Lord’s on Saturday.

England’s number five twisted mid-air to try to get his body out of the firing line, but also – out of his ground at the time – thrust out his left hand and deflected the ball away from the stumps.

Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, praised the way Ben Stokes has reacted to the furore surrounding his obstructing the field dismissal at Lord’s on Saturday.

After a lengthy deliberation involving the third umpire, Stokes was given out, much to the anger of Eoin Morgan, the England captain. Looking back McCullum said he would act differently now. “And I felt Smith got it wrong”, McCullum said.

Gillespie claimed that the Australians were well within their right to appeal and added that Stokes was out as per the letter of the law. It was not cheating…Far from it. “The umpires are there to do a job and when it went upstairs to Joel Wilson, the third umpire, he made the same decision as we saw”, the Australia captain said after the match.

Bailey also responded to Morgan’s insistence that he would’ve withdrawn the appeal had it been his side who were the beneficiaries.

The dismissal reduced England to 4-141, and triggered a collapse of 5-46 before a 55-run partnership between Eoin Morgan (85 off 87) and Liam Plunkett (24 off 12) pushed Australia to the end.

“I thought Stokesy handled it very well”, Bayliss said.

But the decision stood and as Stokes walked off at “the home of cricket” there was the unusual sound of an umpire’s verdict being booed by a crowd renowned for being one of the least partisan in England. “So I think we’ve just got to move on from that, and continue playing the game”.

Bayliss was sympathetic to Stokes’ reaction, which England believed to be instinctive, saying he would’ve thrown “both hands up if someone was throwing near me from 10 yards away”.

Australia captain Smith keenly appealed, along with wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and Starc, and the former was unrepentant for demanding Stokes walk for what appeared to be a reflex action. I think when you slow everything down it gives almost a false picture.

“It was disappointing that Smith had a chance to make a statement about the way he wants his side to play the game and chose to go the other way”, McCullum wrote in the Daily Mail.

“It was the fact we thought the ball was going to hit the stumps”.

“You can cop some criticism… you’ve got to take that on the chin, because we have a long-term view with the next World Cup coming up”.