The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Stokes strikes back after stomping off in anger due to controvers­ial dismissal

- By Lawrence Booth

BEN STOKES was visibly unimpresse­d when third umpire Joel Wilson decided, after six minutes’ poring over the technology, that he had gloved a leg-side flick off Wahab Riaz on 34.

In his discussion with the on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena, Wilson initially suggested that a visible mark on Stokes’ glove was there before the ball reached the batsman — as indeed it appeared to be.

He also admitted that a small spike on Snicko as the ball passed the gloves could have been caused by the shuffle of Stokes’s boots.

A few minutes later, though, Wilson had convinced himself that Dharmasena had been wrong to turn down Wahab’s appeal, telling his colleague he had ‘conclusive evidence’ Stokes was out, and pointing to a mark on the gloves as proof that he had hit it. Stokes, who once broke his hand punching a locker after getting out in the West Indies, stomped off shaking his head. The decision was criticised by Michael Vaughan, commentati­ng on BBC Radio’s Test Match Special. The former England captain said: ‘I don’t think there was enough evidence to overturn the on-field decision.’ Stokes (left) cut a very different figure after striking to take the wicket of Younus Khan — a dismissal that mirrored his own. This time there was no dispute as Younus chased the ball down the leg side and tickled a simple catch to Jonny Bairstow.

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