5 Instances when Man of the Match was picked in a strange manner

In Cricket, Man of the Match award is presented to a player who performs exceedingly well in a particular game. Rather it is a way to recognise the player’s brilliance in the game. Generally, the cricketers wins the MoM award either for his brilliant knock or an outstanding spell of bowling.

More often than not, it is an easy job for the panel to pick the Man of the Match as a certain player makes a match-winning impact. However, there are certain instances, when the panel has to scratch its heads to pick the deserving award winner. And in the cricket history, MoM award winners have been picked in a strange manner as well.  While this move was welcomed by the fans at times. However, some picks have been controversial too.

Jonty Rhodes once won the MoM award for his five catches against West Indies in 1993 while Cameron Cuffy once won the award for his exceptional bowling figures when he hadn’t picked a wicket and not even plucked a catch in a game against Zimbabwe in 2001. But there are a few more strange MoM award winners which we bring to you in this post.

Here we bring you five instances when Man of the Match award was picked in a strange manner:

1. Groundsmen winning MoM

This instance was the one of its kind in the history of cricket. It was the third Test between South Africa and New Zealand at the Wanderers in December 2000. This was the dead rubber as the hosts had already pocketed the series. But the rain washed out the entire first day’s play. However, the groundsman Chris Scott and his dedicated team worked hard to drain the water and made the play possible on the second day.

However, rain once again made its presence felt leading to the abandonment of play on the third and fourth day. Once the rain relented though the groundsmen made sure that the stadium was ready for play on the fifth and final day of play. The game ended in a lifeless draw with only 190.5 overs of play possible.

As it turned out, the groundsmen were on the field for more time than the players from both the teams. And despite so much rain, they ensured two full days of play was possible. This was the reason that the groundsmen were awarded the Man of the Match even as South Africa won the three-match series by 2-0.

2. Robin Singh against Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka hosted India and Australia in a tri-series in 1999. The match between the islanders and India was a must-win game for the Sachin Tendulkar-led with Australia already qualifying for the final. India were yet to register a win a game in three outings and had to win big to go past Sri Lanka’s NRR. And the Men in Blue posted a mammoth score of 296 runs on the board in 50 overs on the back of Tendulkar’s 120 and Sourav Ganguly’s 85.

However, Sanath Jayasuriya (71 off 53) and Marvan Atapattu (53 off 86) got Sri Lanka off to a scintillating start. Both of them scored half-centuries and at 193/2 after 32 overs, the hosts were the favourites to win the game. The rain intervention had reduced Sri Lanka’s target to 271 in 42 overs. But they collapsed dramatically and India registered a 23-run victory.

While it was a team-effort when it came to bowling, many expected Tendulkar to win the Man of the Match award for his superb hundred. But Robin Singh was the unlikely winner of the award. He had scored only four runs with the bat. What impressed the panel of experts was his bowling. He had returned with the miserly figures of 2/27 in his seven overs and he had picked crucial wickets of Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwithrana.

Robin Singh picking these crucial wickets had brought Sri Lanka’s run-rate down which led to him winning the MoM award. However, despite all this, India was crashed out of the tournament and Sri Lank defeated Australia in the final to win the tournament.

3. David Warner preferred ahead of Doug Bracewell

This should be the most controversial amongst all the strange Man of the Match award winners until now. It was the second Test match between Australia and New Zealand in December 2011. A low-scoring affair saw the visitors beating the Aussies by seven runs. Chasing 241, Australia could only post 233 runs out of which David Warner alone had scored 123 and carried his bat as well.

Doug Bracewell was the wrecker-in-chief for the hosts as he returned with the figures of 3/20 and 6/40 in the match. With the match-winning figures of 9/60 in the game, it was clear that the Bracewell will get the Man of the Match award. However, to everyone’s surprise, David Warner was honoured with the award for his fighting knock in the second innings.

Cricket Australia (CA) had picked the Man of the Match based on the voting of the fans and controversy erupted soon after this match. Bracewell was the best performer but the Australian fans had voted for Warner and that didn’t go down well with many as they criticised CA. Soon after this controversy, CA shelved the experiment and continued picking MoMs in a traditional way.

4. Pakistan’s team effort recognised

It is a rare instance in cricket when the whole team has won the Man of the Match award. Only thrice it has happened in history. And one of the instances took place in Nottingham when Pakistan defeated England in the third and final ODI of the series in 1996. England, led by Nick Knight’s unbeaten 125-run knock, posted 246 runs on the board in 50 overs.

Wasim Akram picked three wickets for Pakistan while the likes of Waqar Younis, Shahid Nazir, and Saqlain Mushtaq bagged a couple of scalps each. With the bat, the Men in Green showed amazing composure to seal the thrilling game by two wickets in the last over.

Saeed Anwar was the top-scorer for the team with 61 runs. However, with no outright match-winning performance, it was decided that the whole team deserves the Man of the Match award. It was a complete team effort with almost every contributing well when needed. Though Nick Knight’s unbeaten ton was one of the best innings, he was not considered for the award as England lost the game.

5. Gus Logie winning MoM for his fielding

While many are aware that Jonty Rhodes had once won the Man of the Match award for his fielding, very few know about Gus Logie’s heroics for the West Indies. It was the game between Pakistan and West Indies in the Champions Trophy in Sharjah. After Pakistan opted to bat first, the Caribbeans had to bowl well to restrict the opposition. And they did so, on the back of Courtney Walsh’s four-wicket haul.

Pakistan were bundled out for just 143 runs in 43.4 overs. West Indies chased down the total in just 33.2 overs losing only a solitary wicket. Walsh, for his figures of 4/31, was the favourite contender to win the MoM award. However, it was decided that Gus Logie is the deserved winner for his fielding. It was the field day for Logie as he had plucked three catches and had affected a crucial run-out of Javed Miandad.

Miandad was one of the fastest runners in world cricket then and was looking good in the middle batting on 32 on that day. But Logie swift direct hit while fielding at square leg led to it being termed as the ‘dismissal of the day’. This was the reason why Gus Logie won the Man of the Match award ahead of Walsh.