Was just trying to protect myself: Ben Stokes

London, September 7 - England cricketer Ben Stokes has said that he was just trying to protect himself and had no intention of sticking his hand out to the Mitchell Starc throw.

In the second One-Day International (ODI) against Australia at Lord's here on Saturday, Stokes stuck his hand out as a reaction to avoid getting hit but was given out obstructing the field in the 26th over. England lost the game by 64 runs.

"A guy was standing there five feet away from me and it was just a complete reaction. I didn't put my hand there wilfully, it was purely out of human reaction to protect myself. But the decision was made, there's nothing I can do but it wasn't wilful whatsoever," Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo on Sunday.

The decision created an uproar and Australia was time and again booed by the English crowd. Stoke said the hostile reactions were unnecessary.

"The crowd maybe got a bit out of control, there was a lot of booing going on with the incident. It's one of those decisions where you can't look back and have any regrets because it's been made, you can't change what's happened it's just a shame it came to the uproar it has," Stokes said.

"It probably took away from the fact that we haven't actually played very good cricket in the first couple of games which is the biggest thing for us so we just have to put it behind us."

England face Australia in the third ODI in Manchester on Tuesday.

(IANS)