One of The Oddest Bits of Cricket You'll See

Seriously, what was going on here?!

The third time proved to be the charm, as New Zealand A chased down 227 to secure victory in the final match of the List A series against Bangladesh A. However, I’ll get to the match recap tomorrow, as there is one particular part of the game I wanted to hone in on.

Specifically, the fifth ball of the fifth over, which resulted in one of the oddest bits of cricket you’re likely to see.

It all begins routinely enough. NZA are off to a fast start at 0/35 in pursuit of 227, with Rhys Mariu on strike on 15* (13), facing Ebadot Hossain. What’s all the fuss about? Then, we pan up and see this:

Hang on now, what’s the wicket-keeper doing standing at (generously) first slip, with first slip standing at third? The keeper in question is Bangladesh A captain Nurul Hasan Sohan, no rookie, but a 31-year-old who has represented Bangladesh 64 times across all three formats, including captaining his country in several T20s, and scoring a match-winning 112 in the last outing. Why has he gone for what can only be described as a little wander?

Oh well, never mind, he’s going to settle into a more regulation position in a second, surely.

Oh, ok, sure. No last-minute adjustment, he’s really doubling down on this, huh? Does he have a temporary case of amnesia and think they’re playing on the next pitch over? Does he have a bout of vertigo and got temporarily disoriented? Was the plan for Ebabot to bowl a delivery that missed the cut strip?

If that was the plan, Ebadot failed miserably, delivering a decent, back-of-a-length ball on a sixth-stump line. Mariu, untroubled, was content to leave the delivery. Eyes laser-focused on the ball, Mariu has a front-row seat for the show; the cricketing equivalent of missing a penalty from in front in rugby or scoring an ugly own goal in football.

This is my favourite part. Nurul Hasan suddenly seems to wake up and realise the entirely foreseeable predicament he’s in. “Wait, he’s allowed to leave it? Oh, that’s why we usually stand behind the stumps! Of course!” He begins to half-heartedly stick out a glove, but the damage has been done. He’s in no position to pouch a regulation leave, as he’s probably done thousands of times before. The ball is on an imminent collision course.

Aaaaaaaand bang. There’s the money shot. Ebadot couldn’t have aimed the ball more perfectly, as it crashes into the helmet, which goes flying, and the ball ricochets all the way to third. Everyone seems a bit bemused by what they’ve just seen as the NZA batters initially motion to run, before the umpire steps in, signalling a dead ball and awarding the five penalty runs.

If you want to see the entire sequence in all its glory (and trust me, you do), you can watch it from about 4:49:36 to 4:50:00 in the replay here.

The pièce de résistance? The following delivery, Nurul Hasan, having learned his lesson, is back stationed in a far more conventional position.

I thought I’d seen it all in cricket, but that’s a new one, at least since my U10s days when backstop was the most vital run-saving position on the field. I truly can’t explain what was going on, and just hope whatever daydreams Nurul was having were pleasant.

To put on my tinfoil hat, can we perhaps blame the first slip, who, even the following delivery, when Nurul is back in position, is standing mighty, mighty wide? Did he cast our hero astray, disorienting Nurul? Did Ebadot promise he was about to deliver, like, the most insane legcutter ever, and fail to live up to the hype? Was Nurul actually playing 27D Chess, expecting Mariu to reverse-lap the ball straight into his gloves, masterfully positioned wider than he’d anticipate?

I don’t know the answer, but whatever the case, I thank Nurul Hasan for delivering us this masterpiece of farce (farce-terpiece?), which should rightly claim a place in the Cricketing Calamities Hall of Fame. You may think cricket is at its best when it’s tense, a tight run chase or a nervy super over. I see all that and raise you cricket at its funniest: a dead-rubber in a dying format between New Zealand A and Bangladesh A when, all of a sudden, the veteran wicket-keeper just forgets where to stand for a ball and concedes five penalty runs.

Masterpiece. No notes. It truly is a beautiful game.