Steve O’Keefe forgets he has a runner gets hilariously run out

There are many bizarre ways to get out in cricket from being timed out to handle the ball to obstruct the field and so on. None is so funny than seeing someone getting run out, especially in bizarre fashion and that too in a first-class game. There used to be much confusion before the rule of the runner was removed and batsmen no longer got runners for themselves.

When you have three batsmen on the ground and one is standing way on the side running for someone, mistakes are bound to happen and we have seen such instances when batsmen forgot they had a runner and ran themselves, with either the runner getting out or the batsmen getting run out.

Steve O’Keefe’s moment of brain fade

Something similar happened in a match between New South Wales and Victoria at Drummoyne Oval. NSW batsman Steve O’Keefe came out to bat at no.11 with a runner in tow, as he had severely injured his hamstring during the match. The runner was Nick Larkin and he took his place away from the striker.

The Blues spinners then took the strike and faced his first delivery from Victoria’s Scott Boland. The shot he played wide of the mid-on fielder and O’Keefe called non-striker Peter Nevill for a quick single. Nevill responded to the call and set off to reach the striker’s end. However, bizarrely enough, O’Keefe also took off for a run, along with his runner Larkin.

Jon Holland made a diving stop and while Nevill had made his ground safely, and so did O’Keefe’s runner at the non-striker’s end; O’Keefe had also run 22 yards and ended up at the bowler’s end. As soon as he realised his blunder, O’Keefe apparently forgot about his hamstring and tried to get back to the safety of the striker’s end. However, Holland had thrown the ball to wicketkeeper Seb Gotch, who whipped the bails off with O’Keefe stranded.

The whole incident left everyone flummoxed and some were laughing just how everything went down.

Here is the video of how Steve O’Keefe got himself run out:

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