The England captain stays out of chaos, after Wade’s obstruction

• Jos Buttler says he might not be as forgiving at the World Cup.
• Australia’s Matthew Wade hit his helmet with his bat on a short ball from Mark Wood.
• England won by eight runs in the end of the first T20 game between the two teams.

England’s captain, Jos Buttler, didn’t file a complaint against Australia’s Matthew Wade for blocking the field in the first T20 match of the series on Sunday in Perth. However, he did say that he might not be as forgiving at the World Cup.

Australia needed 39 runs off 23 balls to win, but Wade hit his helmet with his bat on a short ball from Mark Wood.

The ball went flying into the air, and Wood ran down to Wade’s end to try to catch it. However, Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Wade put out an arm to stop him.

Buttler said that the umpires on the field asked him if he planned to appeal, but he decided to let the situation go. England won by eight runs in the end.

“They asked if I wanted to appeal and I said ‘no’. I’ve only just got to Australia so I thought just carry on with the game,” Buttler told reporters.

“It was hard because I didn’t know what I was appealing for … I could have asked some of the other boys to see if they had a better view but thought I would get on with the game.”

When asked if he would do the same thing at the World Cup, Buttler replied, “Maybe.”

Wade got a lot of flak on social media for blocking Wood, and his former test teammate Usman Khawaja said on Twitter, “Can’t believe (England) didn’t appeal.”

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis from Australia spoke up for Wade.

He told reporters, “There’s a lot going on when you get hit in the head and run around.”

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“You have no idea where the ball is…a it’s chaos.”

In cricket, it’s rare for a player to be sent off for blocking the field, but that’s what happened to England’s Ben Stokes when he got in the way of Mitchell Starc’s throw at the stumps during an ODI against Australia at Lord’s in 2015.

After Wade asked for Stokes to be out from behind the stumps, he was out.

On Wednesday, the game moves to Canberra.

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