The clash between England and Australia turned out to be one-sided in the end. Australia beat defending champions England by 36 runs. However, there was one heated moment when Australia were batting. In the 18th over bowled by Adil Rashid, Matthew Wade was not ready and pulled out of the delivery. However, the ball was near his body and he defended it back to the bowler but it was not adjudged a dead ball by umpire Nitin Menon. Wade protested the decision but Menon signalled him to get back to strike and not waste time. After the match, Adam Zampa and Travis Head defended their teammate.
Head suggested that the music on the loudspeaker and he pulled away. "It's very rare for him to block the next one, especially Wadey," said Head. "I think he didn't really have intention [to face the ball] - it followed him, he blocked it, Wadey just asked the question. Wadey obviously felt it went one way and Jos at the time felt it went the other.”
Leg-spinner Zampa felt it doesn't take much to fire up Wade and that was it. "I think he felt like that it was the same basically as letting it hit him in the leg on a dead ball. But it doesn't take much to fire Wadey up," the ‘Player of the match’ said in the post-match press conference.
Buttler’s diplomatic statement
England skipper Jos Buttler who was behind the stumps remained diplomatic about the incident.
"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," the England captain told the reporters after the defeat at Kensington Oval, Barbados. "And to be honest, I was thinking about many other things at that point. Whether I should have said, 'I don't know if he pulled away and let's just carry on'. But the umpire seemed to be like, 'Well, because he played it, it's a dot ball'.
"I can't speak for him, whether he looked up late, but he seemed ready and then pulled out very late and I think that's what the umpire was saying," the wicketkeeper-batter added.
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