The umpire had a moment to forget as Jofra Archer took England’s first wicket of the Ashes in bizarre fashion. The visitors were left needing a fast start after they were bowled out for 172 as Mitchell Starc ran riot, taking a career-best 7-58. Fortunately for England, they managed to get off the mark in the very first over of Australia’s innings.
Archer found the breakthrough against debutant Jake Weatherald with a second-ball duck. His scintillating delivery clearly struck the batter’s leg as he slipped and fell to the ground. However, the decision was not given in real-time and needed a video review to confirm that Weatherald was out.
England’s players were adamant and launched a passionate appeal, but the umpire refused to budge on initial viewing. Many fans were left stunned that it wasn’t immediately given and made their feelings known on social media.
On X (formerly Twitter), @boomeraj555 wrote: “It’s shocking umpiring. My dog would have given that out without any hesitation. The standard of umpiring nowadays is so much poorer than it was 15/20 years ago.”
“That was as plum of a wicket i have ever seen what was the umpire looking at,” added @johnrobinson07, while @Howgozza said: “Trying to work out how the umpire gave a ball nearly hitting middle, not out….”
@AlexJanePereira commented: “If this is the umpiring for the Ashes we’re in for a long old test series,” as @mikeenglishcfc fumed: “Absolutely shocking umpiring. Petrified to give that so just didn’t.”
Others took great pleasure in mocking Weatherald over the humiliating nature of his dismissal, which brought his maiden Ashes knock to an early close.
“That is so embarrassing for the new bloke,” said @michaeI11, while @CammyOA95 wrote: “Absolute snorter. Out or not I’d be walking if a ball like that floored me in the centre of a stadium and on the tele.”
The bizarre wicket came after England suffered a first-innings collapse, with Ben Stokes winning the toss and electing to bat. Zak Crawley was caught in the slips in the very first over as the visitors got off to the worst possible start in Perth.
They were three down inside the first hour as Starc wreaked havoc with the new ball. Harry Brook and Ollie Pope steadied the ship with knocks of 52 and 46 but the tourists were all out for 172, with the last five wickets falling for just 12 runs.
Michael Vaughan, the ex-England captain, suggested that his former team were guilty of lacking common sense with their decision-making at the crease.
“It was Bazball without brains,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “If you look at the last dismissal, in England that’s a six. Here in Australia, the boundaries are the maximum size, they need to think about the shots they are playing.”
