In the previous over, Vince was on 98 with five runs needed when Daniel Hughes hit a four to square leg leaving just one run needed.
The crowd booed the Sixers star, while Hughes then blocked and looked to run the next ball.
It was crazy scenes as the fans cheered the last three balls as Hughes blocked them out.
In commentary, Adam Gilchrist said: "What about a wide, how nasty could (Jhye) Richardson be here?"
Blocking out the rest of the over, the crowd was thrilled with one of the biggest cheers of the night.
But as Tye came in to bowl the first ball of the 18th over, he bowled a massive bouncer that went way over Vince's head.
Vince stared down the bowler and headed out to point to shake hands before coming back near Tye where he put on a smile and appeared to say "it's all good" and shook his hand.
"I reckon he's just dragged that down AJ Tye," Mark Waugh said.
"Yeah, he's turned around pretty quickly and come down to Vince β¦" Gilchrist said.
"Accidental," Waugh concluded.
Gilchrist said: "Not for a moment did I think AJ Tye meant that but it was a bit of an anticlimax. He deserved a hundred. Maybe Dan Hughes needed to show more awareness of it the over before."
Asked if he had somewhere to be tonight, Vince joked: "There's not much to do here."
But when the discussion moved from his innings to the finish, Vince himself didn't seem too sold on the fact that it was completely accidental.
"To be honest, it would have been nice to get a hundred," he said. "It was only when Hughesy blocked out a couple that I started thinking about it. In hindsight, it took one off Richo to cover which I probably shouldn't have taken but just focused on getting it done, just happy to be there at the end and get the guys home.
When asked about Tye, he said: "I don't want to point fingers, it almost hit him on the toe, so it was pretty short so I hope he didn't mean it anyway."
Social media was quick to react with Australian and English fans slamming the ball.
The Barmy Army official account was quick to tweet: "James Vince denied Hundred points symbol in the cruellest of ways. What have you done AJ Tye?!"
Former English captain Michael Vaughan was fuming: "No one can tell me that he didn't mean to do that β¦ !! Poor form from AJ Tye".
Manchester Evening News writers Tyrone Marshall and Dominic Booth also slammed the ball.
Marshall wrote of Vince's suggestion it almost hit him on the toe: "Think we can take that as a yes (it was deliberate). Classic Aussie s***housery from AJ Tye," while Booth added: "Just seen it. Dreadful form from Tye."
Former AFL star Jude Bolton wrote was also spewing over the ball.
It was just the start of the reaction as the cricket world was quick to slam the ball.
