Winning the toss and deciding to field first, the Giants restricted the Emirates to 151/6 in 20 overs on the back of Tom Banton’s fifty coupled with quickfire from Kieron Pollard and Akeal Hosein. In response, Tom Aslap and Gerhard Erasmus’ thirties laid the foundation for the chase despite losing early wickets. With the chase taking a tricky turn in the 18th over, a dramatic incident unfolded revolving around Curran’s runout and Nicholas Pooran’s appeal.
On the last ball of the 18th over, Alzarri Joseph came over the wicket and bowled a half-volley at the stumps that Mark Adair drove to long off. They got a comfortable single with Curran reaching the striker’s end and walking off casually to converse with his partner. However, he walked off even before the throw came into Pooran, who whipped the bails off when the English all-rounder left the crease. The keeper appealed and the umpires were perplexed, summon the TV umpire. As per the cricket laws, Curran was out because he left the crease even before the ball was dead (when it lands in the keeper or bowler’s hand or the umpire calls it dead).
According to Article 20.1.1.1 of the MCC’s Laws of the Game, “The ball becomes dead when it is finally settled in the hands of the wicket-keeper or of the bowler.”
In addition, according to Article 20.1.2, “The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.”
Subsequently, the TV screen displayed Curran Out and the whole Giants dugout was furious with coach Andy Flower walking near the boundary ropes. This was when Emirates captain and fellow Englishman Banton withdrew Pooran’s appeal to summon Curran back. It is worth stating that his teammate, Pooran seemed completely unhappy with his skipper’s act, eventually leading to a Giants victory and sparking the ‘Spirit of cricket’ in the Twitterverse.
Spirit of Cricket!
