30 June 2008

New Zealand Beat England On The Last Ball!


Man, New Zealand and England have been putting on quite the show.

First the English side thumped the Kiwis in the Test series.

Then there was the controversial rain-out in the ODI series.

And then...there was that incredible Game 3 which had its fair share of controversy including New Zealand winning on the last ball of the match.

The controversy happened when Ryan Sidebottom collided with Grant Elliott resulting in Elliott's run-out.



Umpire Mark Benson gave English skipper Paul Collingwood a chance to reconsider his appeal for the run-out. Collingwood, in a decision he would publicly regret the day later and which completely goes against the gentlemanly spirit of the game, stood firm and the umpire had no choice but to give Elliott out.



Of course, karma has a funny way of turning up when you least expect it.

Mark Gillespie ran a single after swatting the last ball from Luke Wright, which would have resulted in a tie when...

...Graeme Swann fielded the ball...

...and threw it back towards the stumps...

...and missed...

...and no one was there "backing up the play" (as they often say in Baseball)...

...which resulted in an over-throw...

...and the winning run scored for New Zealand!



Wow!

The Kiwis used the momentum to win the next match and the ODI series and just like that a team which had been given up for dead rose from the ashes like the Phoenix and resurrected its cricketing future.

You gotta love Cricket!

LINKS

Cricinfo Match Bulletin
Cricinfo Commentary: 50/50 Not Dead
Cricinfo Plays of the Day
Cricinfo News About Collingwood Ban

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey does anyone have a videoclip of that incident, or know where there is one.

Would really appreciate....