WATCH: Roelof van der Merwe invents new shot in The Hundred; falls backwards while smashing the ball to cover boundary
The Sunday (August 1) night’s fixture at Lord’s between hosts London Spirit and Southern Brave in the inaugural edition of The Hundred men’s competition saw another one of Roelof van der Merwe’s unexpected strokes to the boundary ropes.
Facing Brave paceman Chris Jordan in the closing stages of a thrilling run-chase, with his team requiring another 10 runs to win off 4 balls, Van der Merwe received the slowest of slower balls, which died onto him after pitching.
Roelof van der Merwe hits Chris Jordan for a boundary in The Hundred
As the right-hander looked to try and open up the off-side by backing away, he lost his shape completely because of the lack of pace on the delivery.
Yet, much to the amusement of fans in the stadium and all over the globe, Van der Merwe still managed to hit a boundary over the extra cover fielder before collapsing on the Lord’s turf.
The Hundred witnesses another awkward stroke off the bat of Roelof van der Merwe
The 36-year-old funnily almost invented a new shot when his team desperately needed a boundary. Unfortunately for Van der Merwe and London Spirit, however, that four off Jordan’s slower ball wasn’t good enough to see them home. The Brave came out triumphant by 4 runs, defending successfully their total of 145/6 off 100 balls.
This, of course, wasn’t the first instance of Van der Merwe hitting a four or a six in a very strange fashion. Back in 2009, while playing internationally for South Africa, he ended up slicing former Australian left-arm pacer Nathan Bracken for a four through vacant third-man region despite aiming to hit the short-pitched delivery over mid-wicket.
Van der Merwe is one of the rare cricketers to have played for two different countries at the highest level. The 36-year-old ex Proteas all-rounder has played for the Netherlands as well. He has featured in 15 ODIs and 43 T20Is and is an integral part of the prominent English county club Somerset and now also the team London Spirit in The Hundred.