WATCH | Steve Smith given out despite camera showing Jos Buttler grounding the ball
While umpiring errors are a common thing in cricket, it is very rare to see the third umpire making an error after watching the replays. In the 3rd ODI, replays suggested that Jos Buttler had grounded Steve Smith's catch, but the third umpire didn't overturn the soft-signal and gave Smith out.
Australia won the Ashes 4-0 but it seems that the players are struggling in adapting to the 50-over format. England cricketers didn’t miss a chance to keep their brilliant ODI form going and won the first two ODIs. The third game in Sydney saw the English team score 302 runs losing six wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Australia failed to start well and lost early wickets in the form of David Warner and Cameron White when their score was just 44. After Aaron Finch gave some stability by playing 62-run knock before losing his wicket, it was Smith and Mitchell Marsh who took the responsibility of the team and built a 68-run partnership before the Aussie skipper became a victim of a questionable call by the third umpire.
The incident occurred in the 37th over of the game when home team’s score was 181/3. Mark Wood delivered a ball to Smith, who was batting at 45, he tried to slice it but because of the low bounce on offer, he failed to do so. Wicket-keeper Jos Buttler bent towards his right to receive the ball and the visitors started celebrating the dismissal as Smith started walking back. Both on-field umpires were not sure whether the ball had carried and after discussing for some time, they sent the decision to the third umpire with the soft signal being out.Â
In the replays, it was clearly shown that the ball touched the field at the time of Buttler collecting it. Despite watching the incident multiple times, Kumar Dharmasena stuck with the initial decision and declared the Australian skipper out. The result came as a surprise not only for the crowd but for the Australian skipper as well as he already took his position at the non-striker end. He seemed fuming while making his way back to the dressing room.
