In his final over,Wood struck Matthew Wade on the bat and helmet,and then tangled with the wicketkeeper as he tried to take the catch off the rebound. Wade’s outstretched arm was widely construed as obstructing the field,but captain Jos Buttler did not sustain England’s appeal when asked by the umpires – later indicating he would have done so had it been a World Cup match.
“I was looking at the ball the whole time,so I wasn’t sure what happened,and they asked if I wanted to appeal,” Buttler said. “But I thought we’re here for a long time in Australia,so a risky one to go for so early in the trip.”
That England had as many as 208 to defend was down largely to Buttler (68,32 balls),his new opening partner Alex Hales (84,51 balls) and an Australian attack that,aside from the excellent Nathan Ellis,was either not quite on the mark or,in the case of Marcus Stoinis,short of bowling.
Nevertheless,it was a worthwhile exercise for the home side’s batters,in a configuration lacking only Glenn Maxwell among those first picked. Steve Smith,left out for the returns of Stoinis and Mitch Marsh,seems only to be getting further and further from contention for a place.
“The good thing is we got ourselves into a position where we should have won the game,” Finch said afterwards. “The disappointing part is we couldn’t quite finish it off.”
Having carved out a fluent 75 at the Gabba on Friday night,David Warner (73,44 balls) was all action in the early overs to ensure Australia did not fall behind a steep asking rate.
His meeting with Wood’s sheer pace was the stuff of World Cup tournament promos,particularly the hammering of a 152km/h delivery to the point boundary at what seemed even greater speed than the bowler delivered it.