Ashes | Twitter chants karma after DRS controversially deems Carey's take unclean to hand Root reprieve

England's Ashes hopes continued to slip on Thursday morning at the Adelaide Oval as Mitchell Starc went on a boundary barrage to notch up a half-century and take Australia to 371, before the tourists collapsed to 59/3 by Lunch time. The entire session felt like a sucker punch to England after the previous day's events where Alex Carey admitted to having nicked the ball enroute to a ton, even tthough a human error in applying DRS technology let him get away scot free. The visitors were even returned their review as compensation but the damage in cricketing terms had already been dealt. However, in an unexpectedly karmic way, poetic justice was attained to England's delight shortly before the first session's end.

A newly arrived to the crease Joe Root found himself up against Scott Boland in the 11th over of the second innings immediately after Nathan Lyon had scalped both the openers in his maiden effort of the day. The Aussie quick was on the money straight away with his trademark length in the pocket around off-stump, and with his second ball of the over managed to get significant seam movement of the deck. The red cherry jagged in sharply to take the inside edge of Root's bat onto the thigh pad, before making its way behind the stumps. The deflection toook enough pace of the ball for Carey to readjust slightly even as he dove low to his left and managed to take control of the ball with both his gloves grounded. A loud appeal followed but when the umpires hesitated, skipper Pat Cummins wasted little time in opting for the revieew straightaway. However, Root was quick to enquire whether the ball had carried, well aware he had got a thick inside edge, and so the process began. Several zoom-ins seemed to show the ball nestling into the gloves just off the ground, with no conclusion possible on whether Carey's fingers were under at the point of contact. After a few rock-and-rolls, the third umpire had to concur with the on-field decision as Root breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Interestingly, the Kangaroos lost a review for the shenanigans despite the onus of calling a catch clear or otherwise falling with the umpiring panel for the game. However, Twitterati did not mind much, claiming it was the perfect narrative end to the Carey saga.

DRS!

Survives!

Lucky!

Root!

Yes!

Sure?

Lucky player!

Let's see!

Lifeline!

Survives!