After very little cricket was played the week before, cricketers of the ACT and the surrounding region were nervous again after the Friday night freak storm ended the Prime Minister’s XI clash at Manuka on Saturday morning. Thankfully, the cricket gods allowed most games to go ahead on Saturday, even with a few delayed starts and shortened over tallies.
But this is a very different Grade Wrap this week, because ACT Premier Cricket has gone viral, baby.
And it was all because something you certainly don’t see every day actually happened at Reid Oval.
The moment: Western Districts bowler Andrew Reynolds put one through the defences of Ginninderra opening bat Matt Bosustow, leaving middle stump leaning back at about 45 degrees. Wonderful delivery, too good on most days of cricket.
But there was one problem: the bails were unmoved. Leg and off stump remained in place, and the bails hadn’t moved.
Players weren’t sure, umpires weren’t sure, and so a meeting ensued out on the ground, Laws of Cricket at the ready. Bosustow’s Ginninderra team-mate Findlay Farrell started snapping the images that have since done several laps of the cricket world.
Eventually, umpires Chris Cahill and James Culvenor ruled it was not out, and that the stumps hadn’t been broken as required by Law 29 – The Wicket is Broken.
What they said
Matt Bosustow: “I go back to the previous over, I was at the non-strikers end and I noticed one of the bails wasn't sitting in the groove. And I actually put it back in the groove.”
“So, I'm on strike for the next over and facing up, and went the big tonk after four dot balls, got bowled, and went for a walk, and then I heard the wicketkeeper laugh and say, 'look at the bails!'
“I turned around and saw them, and I just wondered.
“There was about a ten-minute deliberation with the umpires, trying to work out if it was out or not, they were looking up the rules (sic).
“Straight away, I was like, 'that's not out!' I wasn't a hundred percent sure, but I was staying either way!
“I've seen a Herald Sun article, something similar happened in Victoria, but that one was out because the stump was knocked out of the ground.”
Wests Captain Sam Wightman, speaking to The Canberra Times: “I've never seen that happen before, no-one has seen it happen.
“We all found it pretty funny afterwards. At the time we were happy to take the wicket, then we weren't so happy the batter had to come back.
“We got him not long after, which made me happier.”
Veteran Umpire and Cricket ACT Life Member Bill Ruse: “It was first drawn to my attention by Chris Cahill, one of the two umpires involved, who quoted Law 29 as his logic for coming to the decision they did. And I must say I agree!
“But when I first looked at the photo, I assumed it was a practical joke – two bails glued end-to-end perhaps just for a photo!”
Former Indian allrounder Ravi Shastri on Fox Sports: “I’ve never seen something like this. You have to give it Not Out; the bails have to come off. But that’s a one-off, surely!”
Former Australian Captain and Fox Sports colleague Aaron Finch: “Ravi played a million games of cricket, and he’s commentated a million more games of cricket, and for him not to have seen it, that means it’s never happened before.”
The numbers: Since we shared Findlay Farrell’s image on our social channels on Sunday, it truly has gone viral all around the cricket world.
It has featured in newspapers and websites, been shared by cricket-specific, general sport, and news sites the world over, and has been discussed in commentary in the last few days.
Just on Cricket ACT channels, we can count more than 70 thousand views across all platforms. But once we add in the external shares and reports, the images and posts have been viewed upwards of two million times!
The aftermath: Matt Bosustow was dismissed only a few overs later for not too many more runs and admitted “if it wasn’t a rain-reduced Twenty20 game, I might have tried to knuckle down a bit” after his unlikely reprieve.
Wests made 6-136 from their reduced tally of overs, before restricting Ginninderra to 9-96 to secure the win.
Andy Reynolds went wicketless for the match.
And never before has a dot ball in Canberra 3rd Grade received so much attention.
Around the Grounds:
In 1st Grade, Lachlan Malcolm’s 75no pushed Western Districts to 8/230 from their 50 overs at Kippax, before their bowlers took over and kept Ginninderra to 9/170 in the 39th over when the rain set in for the afternoon, giving Wests a DLS win. David Waters finished with 5-38 from nine overs.
At Freebody, ANU made 8/185 from their rain-reduced 34 overs, courtesy of skipper Dan Leardam’s 64. In reply, Queanbeyan’s 6/134 from 22 overs was enough for them to be ahead of the par score when no further play was possible.
Down at Chisholm, a delayed start saw Tuggeranong and Weston Creek-Molonglo revert to a 20 overs a-side contest, where the home side went on to post 6/181 from their 20 overs with Sam Myburgh taking 4-36 for the ‘Creek. Tuggeranong’s bowlers followed on with the job, keeping the ‘Creek to 5/180 for a one-run win.
No play was possible at Kingston between Eastlake and North Canberra-Gungahlin.
It was a proper runsfest at Chisholm on Sunday in the elite Women’s North-South game, with Katie Mack (139 from 124 balls) carrying on her WBBL form, and Olivia Porter (81 from 92 balls) pushing the North side to 285 from their 50 overs.
But in reply, Bec Carter (45), Kayla Burton (49) and Alicia Bates (81* from 58 balls) occupied the crease nicely and built the crucial partnerships to deliver a five-wicket win for the South side in the 49th over.
Article by Brett McKay