England captain misses opportunity to invoke ‘Spirit of Cricket’ in fiery Ashes rematch

A year on from accusing Australia of playing against the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ at the Ashes, England missed a chance to invoke it during a one-sided T20 World Cup drubbing.

England captain Jos Buttler missed a chance to invoke the ever-contentious ‘Spirit of Cricket’, leading to Matthew Wade being reprimanded over a bizarre umpiring call.

It’s understood Wade was reprimanded by the ICC for protesting the controversial decision in Saturday’s World Cup clash (Sunday AEST), when umpire Nitin Menon refused to call a ‘dead ball’ to a delivery that the Australian had pulled away from facing at the last moment – reacting to music blaring over the loudspeaker.

Menon argued Wade had still played a shot, while the Australian countered that his meek block was only because the ball was following him to hit his body.

However, the entire exchange could have been avoided had Buttler intervened from behind the stumps and implored the umpire to ask Adil Rashid to re-bowl the delivery.

The can of worms opened by England’s condemnation of Australia over not invoking the mysterious ‘Spirit of Cricket’ and calling back Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s continues to fester.

This was a dead ball, not a dismissal, but where does the Spirit of Cricket start and where does it end?

Matthew Wade argues his point with umpire Nitin Menon. Picture: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

To Buttler’s credit, he acknowledged in the aftermath of Australia’s emphatic 36-run win that he could have considered asking for the ball to re-bowled had he not been preoccupied with the tactical challenge of trying to marshal an England revival.

“I wasn’t quite sure (what happened). I think he pulled away and then played it. So I think the umpire was like, ‘well, you sort of played it.’ But he said he pulled away,” Buttler said.

“To be honest, I was thinking about many other things at that point. So yeah, whether I should have said, ‘I don’t know if he pulled away, and let’s just carry on.’”

After the public lynching Australia copped in England over the Bairstow dismissal, which included England coach Brendon McCullum declaring his team would not drink with their rivals after the series, the Aussies were perplexed in the fifth Test when Ben Stokes appealed for a catch which he knew he hadn’t claimed correctly, and chose to leave that decision to the third umpire.

In the new The Test documentary released on Amazon Prime, Australian players accuse England of double standards over the Stokes’ incident, accusing them of only citing ‘Spirit of Cricket’ when it suits.

England was left fuming after Jonny Bairstow was stumped during the Ashes after leaving his crease. Picture: Mike Egerton/Getty Images

Ultimately, the confusing Wade moment in Barbados on Saturday was inconsequential as Australia dismantled England with the ball and easily defended 201 to inflict a crushing victory.

However, in the fickle and high-stakes caper of Twenty20 cricket where targets of 200-plus are often mowed down, the wasted delivery which Wade had clearly run dead on having smashed the previous two balls to the fence, could have proven crucial if there was a tight finish.

Travis Head said he had no problem with it being the umpire’s call, but also defended Wade’s right to try and explain his case to Menon.

“What I just heard briefly was I think it was a bit of music that came on that he pulled away. And then all Wadey was doing was looking for clarification because he felt like he pulled out,” Head said.

“When a bloke has gone 4, and 4 off the first two balls, it’s very rare for him to block the next one, especially Wadey.

“I think he didn’t really have intention (to play a shot), it followed him, he blocked it.

“Wadey just asked the question. They obviously went the other way that it was deemed fair and we moved on.”

Man-of-the-match Adam Zampa said that Wade’s fiery emotions over the perceived injustice of being robbed of a shot, lit a fuse in him to drive Australia to victory.

“Wadey is a fiery guy. Super competitive. And something ticked him over a little bit today I think and that’s what we love about Wadey,” Zampa said.

“… He backed away and he played that shot and I think he felt like that it was the same basically as letting it hit him on the leg on a dead ball. But it doesn’t take much to fire Wadey up.

“… I think after the six or seventh over mark (in the second innings) he came up to me and said, ‘let’s not sit back here, let’s go. We can’t wait for them to make the mistake because they’re not going to.’

“And that’s the beautiful thing about Wadey, having him behind the stumps. He’s so competitive.

“You hear his voice and that makes a huge difference.”