In yet another controversy striking England's Ashes squad, all-rounder Stuart Broad remained at the crease despite edging a ball from Australian Ashton Agar and being caught by captain Michael Clarke at slip via the pad of wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
According to the Mirror, even as England regained control of the first Test on day three, Broad stood his ground and refused to walk, and the Australians were angered further after umpire Aleem Dar failed to notice the nick and gave him not out.
The report further said that unfortunately for Australia, the error could not be reversed due to using of all their decision reviews on failed LBW calls against Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, adding that the incident again raised the question of the spirit of cricket and whether batsmen should walk, with arguments swaying both ways.
Even as England were recovering well towards the end of the third day, leading by 257 runs, the incident created upheavals, with former England captain Andrew Strauss saying that although Broad's action is one of the conventions in the game that a player can get away with, very few would do that.
However, Strauss further said that Australia could have saved their earlier reviews, adding that Australia used the review system on touch-and-go decisions, instead of getting rid of the 'howler'.
Touching on the last series in Australia when current captain Michael Clarke was given not out caught on the last ball of the day at Adelaide, although he later apologised for not walking after he was given out on review, Strauss also said that fortunately for their side, they had another review left after which Clarke was given out.
Supporting Broad, England batsman Kevin Pietersen said that like every batsman around the world needing to wait for the umpire's decision, Broad is well within his rights right's to wait for the decision, adding that Dar has been rated one of best umpires.
Agreeing with Pietersen, former England all-rounder Dominic Cork taunted the Australian side, saying that they are playing sour tactics given that none of their players had walked in similar situations, adding that they did not worry about Jonathan Trott getting 'wrongly' out on day two.
Stating that such things are common in international cricket, Cork also said that with the exception of Adam Gilchrist, Australia have been doing the same thing as Broad for 50 years, adding that players needed to have faith on the technology being used on the field.
