WATCH: Complete brainfade from lazy batter, and then bowler, forces Super Over in WBBL
A Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) encounter between Brisbane Heat and Perth Scorchers on Sunday (October 17) bizarrely ended up in the Super Over because of a lazy effort on the field from both teams on the last couple of deliveries.
In a highly dramatic final over, Heat found themselves chasing a further 10 runs for a victory over the Scorchers, who backed off-spinner Lilly Mills to help them come out triumphant. Mills had given away only 19 runs off her previous three overs and was thus handed the ball when her team desperately needed her to perform.
Mills began shakily, conceding a four of her first ball to Brisbane lower-order batter Georgia Prestwidge but bounced back strongly from the next ball onwards, taking the wicket of Prestwidge and soon bringing the equation down to 4 off 2 balls remaining.
While Mills had missed an easy run-out of Nicola Hancock after dismissing Prestwidge, the real drama began on the final two deliveries as she made two very casual fielding attempts to successive throws from the deep.
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WBBL game between Heat and Scorchers saw strange acts that led to the Super Over.
WBBL game enters Super Over after lazy display from both batter and bowler
The fifth ball of the 20th over in Heat’s run-chase saw Mills being swept across for a single by right-hander Hancock who, however, in a very strange dismissal, tried to come across for a two at the other end even as the ball reached the hands of the bowler.
Realising her mistake, Hancock then made an attempt to get back inside the crease but she was run-out by Mills, albeit very casually. Even though Mills dislodged the bails at her end, she seems to have no clue of how close a thing it was and that she had actually caught Hancock short of putting her bat down in time.
Then on the next and final ball, she made an even bigger error when she failed to cleanly collect the throw from long-on as Hancock and her more capable batting partner Nadine de Klerk tried to come back for a hopeless second run.
— Ves (@Ves84442098) October 17, 2021
The throw from the long-on fielder was only a few steps to the right of the stumps at the bowling end and when Mills got around the throw, one could see that Hancock is not even halfway through her second run. It was only a matter of collecting the ball and taking out the stumps.
But Scorchers lost out on an outright victory by one run as their bowler made a very poor attempt at picking up the throw and missed the run-out.
Thankfully for them, the Super Over went their way and the Perth Scorchers eventually came out on top.