Ashes 2019: Ben Stokes was out, so 3rd Test heroics should not have counted

Umpire Joel Wilson knocked back a plumb lbw decision against Ben Stokes late on day four of the third Test. Picture: Getty

Amid the deafening applause for Ben Stokes and his stunning unbeaten century to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Headingley, let’s not forget one key fact: he should have been out.

Stokes was plumb lbw to Nathan Lyon with England still two runs from victory and he wasn’t given out. Australia had stupidly wasted all their reviews and could do nothing about it.

He should have been out, Australia should have won the Test and reclaimed the Ashes. We should be going to Old Trafford 2-0 up in the series.

That said, Australia should have won the Test when Marcus Harris dropped Stokes in the deep as he smashed his way to 135 not out. And they should have won when Lyon botched what appeared to be the easiest of run-outs in the final over.

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But the biggest blunder of the Headingley Test belongs to umpire Joel Wilson, who could do with a visit to SpecSavers.

After belting Lyon for another six to put England within two runs of triumph, Stokes tried to sweep the spinner and missed. The ball struck him on the pad and looked absolutely plumb.

The Australians appealed desperately but Wilson was unmoved. Australian captain Tim Paine charged down the wicket and pleaded with the umpire: “What was that missing?”

Hawkeye subsequently showed the ball hit Stokes in line with the stumps and was going on to hit middle stump.

Of course, it is Paine who has to take some of the responsibility for the dodgy decision. It was he who had wasted Australia’s final review in the previous over.

Paceman Pat Cummins had hit England spinner Jack Leach on the pad with a ball that was clearly pitching way outside leg stump. No one thought it was out, but Paine challenged and lost — and the chance to challenge a genuinely incorrect decision was gone.

Former skipper Ricky Ponting, commentating on the match, described the decision to waste the review as the blunder that “cost them the Test match”.

The one blight on what has been a fantastic Ashes series has been the poor standard of the officiating. The umpires have made mistake after mistake in all three Tests.

But Wilson’s effort to completely miss what was happening in front of him at such a vital stage in this Test was the worst of them all.

Let’s just hope it isn’t the blunder that costs Australia the Ashes series.