Watch: Ball hits stumps, fails to dislodge bails, umpire gives LBW out; Bizarre incident in Ashes leaves players amazed

A bizarre incident took place during Day 3 of the Ashes Test, which left the players and fans amazed.

The Ashes has been a largely one-sided affair so far, with Australia gaining convincing victories in all of the first three Tests of the series. In the fourth match in Sydney, Australia enjoyed an upper hand again after the side put 416/8 on the board batting first, and reduced England to 36/4 at Lunch on Day 3.

The incident took place in the 31st over of the England innings.

In the post-lunch session, England's Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow put on a fighting stand for the fifth wicket but a bizarre incident took place during the session, which sent Stokes into a frenzy while the Aussie fielders couldn't help nudging the stumps.

Replying to Australia's 416-8 declared, England were reeling on 57-4 with the spectre of follow-on looming large when Australia skipper Pat Cummins brought back Green for another spell.

Green came from around the wicket and pitched the first delivery significantly outside off-stump – Stokes decided to leave the delivery but the ball nipped in sharply and hit the stumps. Surprisingly, the impact failed to dislodge the bails and the Australian players, amid confusion, made an LBW appeal.

To further disbelief, umpire Paul Reiffel raised the finger. While the home side celebrated the dismissal, Stokes immediately reviewed it and replays confirmed the ball was nowhere near the pad and had hit the top of the off-stump though the impact was not enough to dislodge the bail.

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The lbw decision was overturned and Stokes, then on 16, could not suppress his glee at the reprieve before he resumed batting.

Former Aussie spinner Shane Warne, who was on-air at the time of the incident, expressed his shock at umpire raising the finger.

What‘s he given it out on? How bizarre was that?” Warne said. “Paul Reiffel was a bowler and he‘s seen it hit the stumps and said, ’you’re out’.

“That‘s one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen given out, for the ball hitting the stumps and the bails didn’t come off ... I‘m sorry, I’m still in shock. I’m still not sure what we just saw.”

Stokes had been rewarded with another "life" when Cummins spilled a sharp return catch when the batsman was on nine.