The embarrassingly bad delivery
Plays of the Day from the Rajasthan Royals v Perth Scorchers Champions League T20 match in Jaipur
Andrew Fidel Fernando
29-Sep-2013
Simon Katich failed to make use of a terrible delivery from Shane Watson, and then didn't use the life offered to him by Pravin Tambe • BCCI
The floater
Rarely do both batsman and bowler have cause to be embarrassed after the same delivery, but Shane Watson and Simon Katich wore abashed smiles when Watson delivered perhaps the worst ball of the tournament in the seventh over, and Katich responded with a woeful excuse for an overhead smash. The ball slipped out of Watson's hand early in his delivery slide and floated high over the pitch, on the leg side. Katich took aim as the ball descended like a deflating balloon, but couldn't connect with his double-handed swat towards fine leg.
Rarely do both batsman and bowler have cause to be embarrassed after the same delivery, but Shane Watson and Simon Katich wore abashed smiles when Watson delivered perhaps the worst ball of the tournament in the seventh over, and Katich responded with a woeful excuse for an overhead smash. The ball slipped out of Watson's hand early in his delivery slide and floated high over the pitch, on the leg side. Katich took aim as the ball descended like a deflating balloon, but couldn't connect with his double-handed swat towards fine leg.
The reprieve and recovery
At 41, Pravin Tambe is perhaps not as quick as he once was, but while his reflexes let him down in his first over, his skill made up for it later in the over. Simon Katich drove Tambe's second ball back to him, but Tambe couldn't get low quickly enough to secure the catch. Two balls later though, he saw Katich coming down the pitch and slipped in a googly instead of his legbreak. The batsman missed the ball that spun away from him and he was stumped comfortably, having taken no advantage from his earlier reprieve.
At 41, Pravin Tambe is perhaps not as quick as he once was, but while his reflexes let him down in his first over, his skill made up for it later in the over. Simon Katich drove Tambe's second ball back to him, but Tambe couldn't get low quickly enough to secure the catch. Two balls later though, he saw Katich coming down the pitch and slipped in a googly instead of his legbreak. The batsman missed the ball that spun away from him and he was stumped comfortably, having taken no advantage from his earlier reprieve.
The yorker
Kevon Cooper and James Faulkner had wreaked havoc with the yorker in Scorchers' innings, but left-armer Jason Behrendorff delivered perhaps the best yorker of the match to dismiss Rahul Dravid in the first over. Coming over the wicket, Behrendorff had the ball heading towards the base of off stump, but swung it back at Dravid late in its trajectory, to leave the batsman's footwork muddled. Dravid ended up playing an ugly shot across the line, and had his middle stump ripped out of the ground when he missed.
Kevon Cooper and James Faulkner had wreaked havoc with the yorker in Scorchers' innings, but left-armer Jason Behrendorff delivered perhaps the best yorker of the match to dismiss Rahul Dravid in the first over. Coming over the wicket, Behrendorff had the ball heading towards the base of off stump, but swung it back at Dravid late in its trajectory, to leave the batsman's footwork muddled. Dravid ended up playing an ugly shot across the line, and had his middle stump ripped out of the ground when he missed.
The Hollywood dive
When a fielder dives it is usually in service of stopping the ball, but as Hilton Cartwright sprinted around the long-on boundary to intercept the ball, he contrived to go airborne after he had already patted the ball away from the boundary. The dive was photogenic - Cartwright went horizontal about a metre in the air - but that is all his fielding effort had going for it, because replays showed that he had actually stepped on the boundary while in contact with the ball, and the batsman was awarded four anyway.
When a fielder dives it is usually in service of stopping the ball, but as Hilton Cartwright sprinted around the long-on boundary to intercept the ball, he contrived to go airborne after he had already patted the ball away from the boundary. The dive was photogenic - Cartwright went horizontal about a metre in the air - but that is all his fielding effort had going for it, because replays showed that he had actually stepped on the boundary while in contact with the ball, and the batsman was awarded four anyway.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. He tweets here