New Delhi: England spinner Shoaib Bashir, who represents Somerset in County cricket, bizarrely survived a dismissal as he was clean bowled on Day 1 of the County Championship Division One game against Hampshire. It was due to a fallen towel that he didn’t have to walk back and the bowler Kyle Abbott continued bowling him in the 54th over, in which the incident actually happened.
In the match, Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory won the toss and decided to bat first, a decision which he must be feeling guilty about. Liam Dawson (4/28) and Kyle Abbott (4/37) ran through the Somerset batting lineup as they combinedly picked seven wickets in the middle and left the team reeling at 136/9 in 53.2 overs. Abbott went on to clean up Shoaib Bashir with a brilliant delivery, cleaning him bowled and started celebrating the wicket.
However, in the process of delivering the ball, Abbott had accidentally dropped his face towel at the non-striker’s end by which Bashir got distracted and immediately pointed this out to the umpire. The umpire therefore deemed the ball as dead and that is how Bashir survived the dismissal.
This is very well mentioned in the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Law book where Law 20.4.2.6 states that the umpire can signal a dead ball if the batter on strike gets distracted by any noise or movement or in any other way while preparing to receive, or receiving a delivery. The law applies whether the source of the distraction is within the match area or outside of it.
Watch the video here –
Kyle Abbott nearly had two wickets in two balls…
But a towel fell out of Abbott’s back pocket in his delivery stride, and it was deemed a dead ball. pic.twitter.com/9jTYDoABfk
— Vitality County Championship (@CountyChamp) September 26, 2024
Bashir falls, Hampshire bats
Therefore Bashir was allowed to continue his innings but couldn’t add anything significant to the scoreboard of Somerset. In his second life, he got trapped on the pads by Abbott just two balls later and was ultimately dismissed for a three-ball duck. Somerset wrapped up their first essay at a meagre 136.
Coming out to bat, Hampshire took a lead of 60 runs in their first innings as they scored 196 with Toby Albert top-scoring with 77 (162). Jack Leach shone for Somerset as he picked up a five-wicket haul while Bashir went wicketless after 11 overs, leaking 47 runs. Hampshire were bundled for 196 and Somerset in response to their second innings, scored 180 all out, setting a target of 121 runs for Hampshire.
Shoaib Bashir was clean bowled by Kyle Abbott during Day 1 of the County Championship Match 69 between Somerset and Hampshire but survived the dismissal. Here’s how it happened! Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
