Picture Credit: Twitter
Australia spinner Ashton Agar got involved in a heated argument with on-field umpire Paul Reiffel during Australia’s first ODI against England. The Pat Cummins-led team is hosting England for a three-match ODI series, the first of which is being played on Thursday (17 November). Australia won the toss and invited England to bat first.
Cummins’ decision to bowl first was proven right straightaway as the captain himself drew the first blood in the form of Phil Salt. Mitchell Starc also joined the party as he cleaned Jason Roy up. It was a typical Starc dismissal where the bowled swung big after pitching in the off-stump line and then hit the middle stump.
The third blow was also landed by the captain as Cummins dismissed James Vince. Meanwhile, Dawid Malan was anchoring the England innings and Sam Billings joined him in the middle. The two batters were seeing off Australia’s deadly bowling. It was then Ashton Agar lost his cool for a while as he got involved in a heated argument with the on-field umpire, Paul Rieffel.
In one of his overs, as Agar was trying to stop a shot from Dawid Malan, Rieffel warned the bowler about not walking across the pitch every now and then. The umpire was not impressed with Agar’s act as he felt the ball was too far from him. “Mate, you can’t just keep running across the wicket,” Rieffel was heard saying on the stump mic.
Agar was quick to defend himself as he said, “What do you mean? I’m trying to anticipate the ball.” Rieffel was not impressed again as he said, “He sent that to mid-wicket, mate. You can’t — you’re getting in the way.” This was when Agar lost his cool and swore “for f***’s sake”. The pair continued to exchange some words although they could not be heard on the broadcast.