Ball split into pieces at County Ground in Derby

The bowler was shell-shocked by what panned out and stood on the pitch in utter disbelief.

Published - 18 Aug 2018, 19:42 IST | Updated - 18 Aug 2018, 19:42 IST

View : 1.9K

2 Min Read

Bizarre happenings have taken place on the cricket pitch over the years. From stumps being broken to bats getting divided into two halves, a number of them have left everyone dumbstruck in the illustrious sport. Recently, one such incident took place in a match between British Broadcasting Corporation’s Test Match Special and podcast Tailenders at County Ground in Derby.

The Tailenders won by a significant 37 runs and the crowd of 5,000 present at the venue was treated to an exciting match. The TMS were captained by Michael Vaughan, the former English cricketer. The likes of Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar also played the encounter. Last year a similar match took place in which Vaughan’s men beat Phil Tufnell’s side by six wickets.

Ball goes for a toss

The event was staged to celebrate Test Match’s Special 60th birthday. In yesterday’s contest, the Tailenders won the toss and elected to bat first. Tommy Banks and Harry Judd top-scored with 33 runs each to lift their team to 161 runs. Michael Vaughan played a whirlwind knock of 44 runs balls, but Banks’ four-wicket-haul helped the Tailenders bowl TMS out for 124 runs.

Coming back to the occurrence, it took place in the first ball of the second over from Simon Hughes with the score at 1-1 after one over. Hughes jogged in and released the ball. Banks knelt down, cleared his left leg and tried to sweep the delivery. However, just after the ball left the bowler’s hands, it split into three halves, all three of which went in different directions.

The batsman also took his own time in comprehending the occurring. The bowler was shell-shocked by what panned out and stood on the pitch in utter disbelief. The wicketkeeper was also bemused by the weird incident. Alison Mitchell, the women’s commentator, picked two pieces up from the ground and had fun with them. Nevertheless, the ball was replaced and the contest carried on.