After a terrible start to their first innings, England came back strongly on Day 3 of the ongoing fourth Ashes Test against Australia in Sydney. The tourists were reeling at 36/4 in response to Australia’s 416 before Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow steadied the ship to take England out of hot waters.
Stokes scored a dazzling half-century while Bairstow went on to smash a splendid century as England finished the day at 258/7. The stunning hundred of Bairstow became the major talking point as it was the first ton by an Englishman in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22.
However, one moment that captured much more attention was related to Stokes, who scored 66 off 91 with the help of 10 boundaries. During the innings, a ‘physics defying’ moment took place, which took everyone by surprise as the southpaw escaped even after a ball hit his stumps.
It all happened during the 31st over of England’s first innings bowled by Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green when Stokes was batting at 16. The Englishman shouldered arms to the first ball of the over, which nipped back a little and hit the off-stump, but incredibly the bails weren’t dislodged, and Stokes survived.
It was such a shocking incident that the on-field umpire thought the ball had hit Stokes’ pads as he gave him out LBW. The batter immediately went upstairs, and the replay showed the red cherry struck the off-stump, but the bails didn’t come off.
The video of the whole episode went viral on the internet, with several fans and ex-cricketers dropping their thoughts on the shocker of a moment. Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar couldn’t restrict himself from reacting to the event.
In fact, Tendulkar went on to pass a suggestion to introduce a new rule in order to make the contest equitable for bowlers.
“Should a law be introduced called ‘hitting the stumps’ after the ball has hit them but not dislodged the bails? What do you think, guys? Let’s be fair to bowlers,” Tendulkar wrote on Twitter while sharing the video.
Should a law be introduced called ‘hitting the stumps’ after the ball has hit them but not dislodged the bails? What do you think guys? Let’s be fair to bowlers! 😜😬😋@shanewarne#AshesTestpic.twitter.com/gSH2atTGRe
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 7, 2022
