Post-Ashes hostilities reached a flashpoint at Lord's on Saturday, with England skipper Eoin Morgan accusing Steve Smith of acting against the spirit of cricket in Australia's controversial win at Lord's.
Australia took a 2-0 lead in the five-match one-day series with the 54-run victory, which threatened to boil over following a decision to give England allrounder Ben Stokes out on the little-used 'obstructing the field' law.
Chasing Australia's total of 7-309, England were 3-141 in reply when the match's defining moment arrived as Stokes stuck out a hand to deflect a shy at the stumps from Australian quick Mitchell Starc.
Morgan argued that Stokes, who was on 10, was simply interested in self-preservation rather than having any intention of protecting his stumps.
"I feel that the ball was thrown so fast that you can only react in a way that defends yourself and he put his hand up to protect himself and followed the ball," he said.
"How you can interpret is open but certainly I didn't think it was deliberate."
Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and Starc immediately appealed and umpire Kumar Dharmasena referred the decision to the third umpire Joel Wilson, who saw enough evidence to give Stokes his marching orders.
Smith could've retracted the appeal and recalled Stokes, but he chose not to - a move which infuriated Morgan.
"Certainly, I think it would've been a lot different if we were fielding," said Morgan, who also revealed he'd Dharamasena had told him the on-field umpires didn't believe it to be out.
The opposing captains held spirited discussions during and after the match, but ended up with vastly differing views.
The Laws of Cricket state a batsman must be trying to "wilfully attempt to obstruct or distract the fielding side" to be dismissed obstructing the field - a point Smith remained firm on when challenged over his appeal.
"The way I saw it was he was out of his ground and he wilfully put his hand out which is the rule I've been told and he got given out by the umpire," Smith said.
The dismissal triggered a collapse of 5-46 and played a major role in England being bowled out for 245, though a 55-run partnership between Morgan (85 off 87) and Liam Plunkett pushed Australia to the end.
The incident enraged the typically sedate Lord's crowd, who booed loudly for a solid half-hour after the incident and hurled abuse following Starc's every involvement for the rest of the match.
Starc responded to the boos by clean bowling Plunkett to end England's resistance and silence the crowd.
Even former greats from each nation were divided on the situation - though not necessarily falling in line with their captains.
"He is perfectly entitled to (leave it to the umpires)," said former England skipper Michael Atherton.
Champion Australian legspinner Shane Warne felt differently.
"The correct decision was made by the umps re Stokes even though I didn't like it," he said in a Tweet which he later deleted.
"Cricket would've been the winner if Smith called him back."
Controversy aside, the win was well received by Smith and coach Darren Lehmann after Australia battled back despite the loss of David Warner to a broken thumb on the match's second ball - with the opener facing a four-to-six week recovery.
Luckless allrounder Shane Watson, who clubbed sixes into the top tier of both the Lord's Pavilion and the Tavern Stand in an exciting cameo, also failed to finish the match after straining a calf muscle.
Australia's innings was defined by a blistering half-century to man of the match Mitch Marsh which carried them past 300 after Steve Smith (70) and George Bailey (54) had set the platform.
Pat Cummins claimed 4-56.
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