Controversy and England- Australia match go hand in hand. Be it Jonny Bairstow- Cameron Bancroft headbutt incident or Moeen Ali claiming he was called ‘Osama’, the two teams have had a history of bad blood between them.
While most often this brings out high-intensity cricket, time and again players take it too in search of a win. Something like this has happened in an Australia- England match again, this time, Australian wicket-keeper batter Matthew Wade found himself at the centre of it.
While batting in the 17th over, Wade hit the ball straight upward and was in a reachable position for the bowler Mark Wood. What happened next has put a question mark on Wade’s integrity as he appears to stop Wood from taking the catch.
The Australian batter manages in his ploy and saves his wicket as Wood fails to reach the catch. Wade however could not take his team to a victory as Australia lose the game by eight runs. Earlier, the visiting team had scored a massive 208 runs in 20 overs on the back of a sensational opening partnership from England.
Jos Butler scored a quickfire 68 off 32 whereas Alex Hales (84) brought out his own half-century as the two batters took Australian bowlers to the cleaners. While chasing David Warner brought his A game to the crease scoring 73 off of 44 deliveries. Other Australian batters however failed to impress and none could create a big score.
Mathew Wade came at number seven and played cautiously while helping the hosts inch towards the target. While his knock of 21 off of 15 would have been a valiant effort and garnered good praise, his un-sportsmanship tactic will hoard the limelight.
Twitter was understandably angry at Matthew Wade for going against the ‘Spirit of the game’:
Matthew Wade clearly obstructed Mark Wood. He may not have known where the ball was, but he definitely stuck his arm out to stop Wood #AUSvENG #Cricket pic.twitter.com/0AG8Y92yKF
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) October 9, 2022
MATTHEW WADE blocked MARK WOOD on his attempt to catch the ball,He is clearly blocking WOOD but still got away and wasn't given out for obstructing the field#AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/zw1g9m7cOI
— Farooq Alam (@AlamFAR786) October 9, 2022
No hate to Matthew wade but imagine Any Indian cricketer (men or women) did like this,
whole England would've gone crazy for so called Spirit of Game. #AUSvENG— Pradip¶?? (@Ruined__myself_) October 9, 2022
Matthew Wade proving that the Australians are basically a team of cheaters pic.twitter.com/3pNRThczal
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) October 9, 2022
I cannot believe Matthew Wade got away with that. Atrocious #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/EFUBv8Ith0
— Sidd. (@siddlaha) October 9, 2022
This is blatant obstruction of field matthew wade cheated #AUSvENG #MatthewWade #ICC pic.twitter.com/PSg6Ihb2nK
— RampageQ9 (@RampageQ09) October 9, 2022
I'm actually ao pissed abt this australia incident bec it makes the double standard for white people in cricket so glaringly obvious. Like first Matthew Wade had the audacity to block Mark Wood and prevented him from getting a wicket and then Jos Butter refused to appeal?
— ?? (@erajisnot) October 9, 2022
Matthew Wade’s made it on my Top 5 list of most hated Cricketers, dreadful bloke
— Dan_McHugh (@d_mchugh18) October 9, 2022
Mark Wood : Ball is in the Air, Easy Catch
Matthew Wade : pic.twitter.com/d4YLPOQRLH
— g0v!ñD $#@®mA (@rishu_1809) October 9, 2022
Wow!!! Matthew Wade obstructs Mark Wood from getting to the ball!
Eng don’t appeal! Aussie commentators talking the biggest kak, making excuses like he’s disorientated/trying to gain momentum for the dive!
Would be interesting if this happened in WC Semi/Final#AUSvENG#T20i https://t.co/EsSGuokJEf— Kaptein Rooibaard (@KaptRooibaard) October 9, 2022
