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From dream to nightmare for Paris on debut

Plays of the Day from the Group A Champions League T20 match between Otago Volts and Perth Scorchers in Jaipur

Mohammad Isam
Mohammad Isam
25-Sep-2013
It all went downhill on debut for Joel Paris, after his cracking start  •  BCCI

It all went downhill on debut for Joel Paris, after his cracking start  •  BCCI

The debut
Joel Paris comes to bowl the third over of the Otago innings, takes two wickets with his first two balls. It happens to be the first two balls of his Twenty20 career, and the youngster couldn't be more delighted as he finished with a maiden over. Simon Katich saved two of his overs for later, but by the time he came on to bowl the 17th over, Neil Broom and Ryan ten Doeschate were at the peak of their onslaught. Paris gave away 41 off his final two overs, which included five sixes and a four. It will remain a debut he will never forget for all the good and bad memories.
The drop
Even though Paris took two early wickets, it didn't stop Derek de Boorder from going after the bowling. It wasn't the popular thing to do at that point, particularly after he was dropped at slip by Adam Voges. It was a head-high edge, which Voges was only able to parry and not clutch on to as it popped out instantly. Jason Behrendorff was the unlucky bowler but, several overs later, it would be Voges who would suffer a dropped chance, this time when Ryan ten Doeschate was dropped at long-on by Ashton Turner.
The shot
There were plenty of shots to write about, especially during the whirlwind fourth-wicket stand between Broom and ten Doeschate. In the 17th over, Broom swatted Paris through square leg with the ball staying quite low. But he had so put so much power into the shot, it didn't stay inside the rope. It slammed into the board, Paris' head dropped and Simon Katich mulled what could be done next.
The mix-up
The Scorchers had conceded 242 runs in 20 overs, and had just lost two early wickets in the chase. To make matters worse, there was a massive mix-up between two of their senior batsmen: Voges and captain Simon Katich failed to hear each other after the former tucked the ball towards short fine-leg. Katich had backed up so far up the pitch that he couldn't return on time.

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. He tweets here