Watch: Steve Smith Involved In Furious Argument With Umpire Nigel Llong After Latter's Baffling Call

Australia star Steve Smith was left fuming after umpire Nigel Llong decided against awarding two leg-byes to the hosts in the ongoing second Test against New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. After getting the better of Steve Smith in Perth with the bodyline strategy, New Zealand pacers came up with the same plan in the ongoing game too.

Neil Wagner once again decided to give the Australia batting mainstay a testing time by unleashing a bouncer attack on him. Things then took an ugly turn when Wagner hit Smith twice with short deliveries. Both the deliveries were aimed at Steve Smith’s bodies and the latter decided against offering shots.

Also Read: Watch: Bizarre Dismissal As Marnus Labuschagne Elbows Ball To Stumps

Steve Smith furious:

After being hit on his body on both the occasions, Steve Smith attempted to take a single. But to his surprise, umpire Nigel Llong decided to call a dead ball and send him back to the striker’s end to face the next ball. The first call from Nigel Llong did not cause much controversy as the ball only hit Smith on the thigh pad. But the second led to a heated debate between Steve Smith and Llong.

Wagner bowled shorter and hit Smith under the ribs. The right-handed batsman had not offered a shot but was entitled to take a run since he had taken an evasive action. However, that was not how Llong interpreted the situation and called it a dead ball, much to the frustration of Smith.

The Australia star was then seen having a heated discussion with Long. And to everyone’s utter surprise, Llong was not ready to back out too as the matters escalated. But fortunately, things came under control soon.

Here is a delivery that started the argument: 

You make the call – should this be a dead ball? #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/CMp4Q9AHvW

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 26, 2019

Here is a clip showing the argument between Smith and Llong:

https://twitter.com/Davidthompson42/status/1210058484642828288?

Meanwhile, former Australia spinner also lashed out at Llong for his decision.

“Well the umpire’s wrong,” Warne said on Fox Cricket. “Steve Smith has every right to be angry because the interpretation Nigel Llong is giving at the minute is incorrect.

“I’m sure someone’s going to have a chat to Nigel Llong in the lunch break because Steve Smith’s livid and rightly so,” he added.