Twitter up in arms as Nathan Lyon serves yet another shining example of how low Australian cricketers can go.
Australia continued their march towards victory on Day 4 of the first Test against South Africa on Sunday.
Although the moderate crowd at the Kingsmead, Durban, was treated to some top-notch cricket, there was an unpleasant incident that caught the attention of viewers.
The Proteas, chasing a mammoth 417 to win the Test, were left in deep trouble after the loss of star batsman AB de Villiers. The right-hander was run-out for a duck after some fine work from David Warner and Nathan Lyon.
While the Aussies were understandably ecstatic to get rid of ABD, Lyon was caught doing something that can only be described as shameful.
The off-spinner, after knocking over the stumps to run out De Villiers, dropped the ball on the batsman as he ran to celebrate with his teammates. Looking closely at the video footage, one can clearly see that the act wasn't unintentional and Lyon knew exactly what he was doing.
Watch the incident here
Not just this, Warner's reaction to ABD's dismissal was way over the top too. The Australian vice captain could be seen yelling away in anger as he huddled up with his teammates.
This is yet another example of how Australian cricketers tend to cross boundaries in the garb of 'playing tough cricket'. Hope the ICC has a good look at what happened in Durban on Sunday and Lyon faces strict punishment for his despicable act.
Twitter, too, was not impressed by Lyon. Many shared their take on the Australians' reaction to ABD's dismissal.
Here are some tweets
Meanwhile, Australia picked up four wickets on Sunday to leave South Africa staring at an imminent defeat in the first test at Kingsmead as the hosts went to lunch on the fourth day on 63-4, still needing 354 runs to pull off an improbable win.
Opener Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and captain Faf du Plessis were all out cheaply after Australia had set South Africa 417 runs to win. Australia elected to bat on at the start of Sunday's play after being 213-9 overnight and added 14 runs in 18 balls before Keshav Maharaj bowled Pat Cummins to finish with figures of 4-102 and nine wickets for the match in a rare high point for the home team.
South Africa, as had been the case in their first innings, set off briskly in their chase but any hope of resistance diminished when Elgar played away from his body to a rising delivery from Mitchell Starc and steered it into the gloves of Tim Paine for just nine runs.
Hashim Amla's arrival at the crease brought about an immediate bowling change as Australian skipper Steve Smith brought on Josh Hazlewood, who had dismissed the batsman five times in the last series between the two sides in Australia in November 2016.
Hazlewood quickly added another as he trapped Amla leg before wicket for eight runs. AB de Villiers then returned to the pavilion after facing just one ball and without troubling the scorers. He tried to run a quick single but was sent back and then found himself short of his crease as fielder David Warner threw the ball at the bowler's end where Nathan Lyon whipped off the bails.
The remaining home hopes evaporated when du Plessis was clean bowled by Cummins, adding just four runs, and leaving South Africa reeling at 49-4. Aiden Markram struck five fours as he went to lunch 38 not out, along with Theunis de Bruyn on two.
Australia have been in command for most of the test after scoring 351 in their first innings and then bowling South Africa out cheaply for 162 on a slow wicket.
(Inputs from Reuters)
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