Ben Stokes was the beneficiary of a moment of fortune on the third morning at Emirates Old Trafford after Alex Carey fumbled the ball while attempting to complete a routine run out, but replays showed that even though the Australia wicketkeeper spilled the ball, adjudging Stokes to be not out was not as simple a call as it initially seemed.

Stokes tried to steal a quick two off the fifth ball of the day’s second over but there was a slight misjudgment from the England captain. Had the throw from substitute fielder Michael Neser been a direct hit, or had Carey cleanly taken the ball and removed the bails, Stokes would almost have certainly been run out.

Instead, Carey fumbled his take with Stokes out of his ground. Australia, having seen Carey fumble the ball, did not appeal for the run out and as such, the decision wasn’t sent upstairs to the third umpire.

TV replays subsequently showed that although Carey dropped the ball and whipped the bails off with his glove, the dropped ball made contact with the stumps with Stokes out of his ground. Stokes was out of his crease with the ball in contact with the stumps and a bail dislodged.

The question is whether the wicket was broken fairly, as per the MCC’s Laws of Cricket. Law 29 deals with this aspect of the game. The wicket is broken fairly if one bail is removed completely from the top of the stumps, or a stump struck out of the ground, by the ball, or by a fielder’s hand or arm, providing they are holding the ball in that hand or the hand of that arm.

The latter is not what happened in this case, and it is a matter for the umpires to decide on what was the cause of the wicket being broken – if it was due to the ball, or Carey’s hands. With there being no appeal, there is no way of knowing what decision they would have reached, but it seems likely they would have judged that it was not the ball that broke the wicket.

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