Jos Buttler explains why England didn't appeal against Matthew Wade
Matthew Wade (PC: Twitter)
England captain Jos Buttler opened up on the 'Matthew Wade field obstruction incident' and said he wasn't completely aware of what happened between the Australian wicket-keeper batter and Mark Wood in the opening T20I against Australia at Perth Stadium.
The much-discussed incident took place in the 17th over of Australia's run-chase in the series opener on Sunday, October 9, when Matthew Wade top-edged the ball into his helmet and it went straight up in the air.
The England pacer, Mark Wood rushed toward the striker's end to grab a catch, but Wade extended his arm and blocked Mark Wood from getting the ball.
The replays showed that Wade struck his hand out intentionally to restrict Wood from completing the safe catch and per laws it was illegal as he was 'obstructing the field.'
The visitors were clearly not pleased with the incident and it became more startling when skipper Jos Buttler refused to appeal against the left-handed batter.
In the post-match conference, on being asked if he wanted to appeal against the Matthew Wade, here's what Jos Buttler had to say:
"I was looking at the ball the whole time so I wasn't sure what happened. They [the umpires] asked if I wanted to appeal, but I thought we are here for a long time in Australia so it would be a risky one to go for so early in the trip."
As far as the match was concerned, England won the high-scoring thriller against Australia by eight runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
England skipper Jos Buttler and opening deputy Alex Hales clobbered up a mammoth opening partnership worth 132 runs to post a daunting total of 208 runs on the board.
In reply, David Warner gave a tough fightback to the visitors, mustering 73 runs from 44 balls. The Australian opener was well aided by the likes of Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis but the hosts eventually fell short of the target by 8 runs.
The second T20I of the three-match series is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 12 at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
 "Shivani Shukla")
