Australia finally opened their account in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup as they beat Sri Lanka comprehensively by five wickets in Lucknow on Monday, October 16. An excellent comeback with the ball, which saw Australia take 10 wickets for 84 runs and then a superlative effort with the bat with Josh Inglis and Mitchell Marsh scoring half-centuries helped Australia get the first points on the board after two losses to start off the tournament. However, the batting effort was marred by yet another controversial umpiring decision.
After Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis found themselves on the receiving end of poor calls against South Africa a few days ago, it was yet another where the on-field calls left too much to be desired. Sri Lanka's Sadeera Samarawickrama was given out after the ball-tracking showed that it was the umpire's call on hitting, a similar thing happened with Australian opener David Warner when to the naked eye it looked like missing on both times.
Warner, however, couldn't believe what just happened when the big screen showed it to be out. He was furious as he smashed his bat onto his pads while walking off with abuses, seemingly thrown at the umpire. Warner was really fuming as he kept babbling something in anger till he reached the boundary rope. The video of his reaction has gone viral.
Watch the video here:
The fans too weren't happy with the ball-tracking as on many counts it has been very doubtful and they suggested that no one will complain until it proves to be a turning point in a big game or happens in a knockout. Here are some of the reactions:
But thankfully for Australia, Inglis, who replaced Alex Carey in the side repaid the team management's faith after Mitchell Marsh got off to a flyer following a couple of low scores. Australia are up and running in the tournament and will hope to get a couple of quick wins under their belt.