England star Mark Wood was prevented from bowling on the crucial fourth day of the fourth Ashes Test. Wood and his pace-bowling colleagues were forced to watch on as the umpires declared it was too dark at Old Trafford.
England headed into the day’s play needing six wickets to level the series up at 2-2. The weather forecast in Manchester was expected to see the entire day washed out.
However, the rain stopped at around 1pm and the groundstaff got the outfield ready for play to start at 2.45pm. England’s pace quartet of Wood, Jimmy Anderson, Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad all got through a spell of a few overs each.
It proved fruitless as Marnus Labuschagne went on to score a century in a fine partnership with Mitch Marsh. Ben Stokes wanted to bring Wood back on for another spell but he was told by the umpires that would not be possible.
The floodlights were already on but the on-field officials deemed it too dark for Wood to bowl. Wood is by far the quickest bowler England have and the Sky Sports commentators questioned whether only he would be prevented from bowling.
However, it quickly became clear that Anderson, Woakes and Broad were also not permitted to bowl. Stokes had no other option but to turn to the spin duo of Moeen Ali and Joe Root.
But the decision from the umpires did not go down well on social media. @Bangus86 immediately replied: “Farce.”
England supporters continued to fume on Twitter. @JustDxm wrote: “Why can’t we bowl Mark Wood??? This is a joke.”
While @MrCrick52128045 put: “Absolute joke of a decision. Also took the umpires 15 minutes to get the light meter out.”
@RoryRacingCar20 wasn’t a fan of Ali and Root’s bowling, writing: “S***e cricket this. If the light is bad take ‘em off, just boring the pants off of everyone this. We want to see mark wood rockets not this s***e.”
@SteveParker1971 decided to have a pop at umpire Joel Wilson’s attire. He wrote: “We’ve got an umpire with sunglasses on deciding it is too dark for Mark Wood to bowl.”
@Ben_Wisden shared a joke on the tourists’ behalf, posting: “Australia haven’t been able to see Mark Wood’s bowling all series but now it matters?”
While @robertssamuel claimed it was no darker than when play commenced at 2.45pm. He said: “This is ridiculous. Light meters being brought on. Mark Wood not allowed to bowl. It’s no darker than it was in the first over of the day. #BBCCricket”
England were able to strike, with Root claiming the wicket of Labuschagne caught behind. However, rain again intervened after tea with Australia 214-5, trailing by 61 runs.
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