Melbourne Stars defeated Adelaide Strikers by 8 runs in their previous Big Bash League match on Saturday. Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis played a key role in his side's victory as he played a blistering knock of 74 runs off 35 balls and guided the Stars to 186/7. In reply, the Strikers were restricted at 178/5 despite Adam Hose's half-century. However, the match also had a controversial moment when the umpires allowed Stoinis to bat even after he was timed out.
According to the new rules of the tournament, a batter gets timed out if he fails to make it to the crease within 75 seconds of a dismissal. Strikers batter Adam Hose called-out the umpires for ignoring their appeals.
“He's (Stoinis) a top-class player, but to be honest I was at cover for his first ball and I'm pretty certain he timed out. (He had) 75 seconds and he wasn't ready. So, there was a bit of confusion there with the umpires. We were all appealing … I'm not quite sure what happened there. I'm pretty certain his time was up," Hose was quoted as saying in a report on foxsports.com.au.
Responding to the remarks made by Hose, Stoinis gave a strong reply and stated that he wouldn't have appealed if he would have been on the other side.
“I checked centre (stump), got there, and was standing off because I saw the field moving. But I actually didn't even know that I had to stand there regardless. There were a few times there where the fielders were moving when we were taking guard and we were ready. My understanding was that while the field is moving … I'm not going to stand there until I can see (what the final fielding set-up looks like)," stated Stoinis.
“Apparently, you have to be facing up. There was a dead ball with Hilts , they appealed for that, but the field was moving so it ended up being a dead ball," he added.
Melbourne Stars will now be facing Melbourne Renegades in their BBL clash on Tuesday while Adelaide Strikers will be going up against Hobart Hurricanes on Monday.