Picture Credit: Twitter
Cricket is a game of fine margins, they say. And the same was on display during a recent European Cricket Series T10 match. Although the game looked done and dusted with the team bowling second having sealed the match, a closer look at the replays showed the blunder they did and allowed the batters to not only come back for the run but force the match into the Golden Ball.
Notably, in a video now doing the rounds on the internet from the match between the American University of Malta (AUM) and Marsa, AUM needed 3 runs to win from 1 ball. However, only 2 runs were enough for the team to force the match into a Golden Ball.
In the video, the AMU batter fails to make any connection with the ball on the last ball of the innings but gauging how essential it was to score off it, the non-striker already runs a fair deal by the time, the ball has reached the wicketkeeper. The striker runs very late upon realising what has happened and then as the throw is far from the stumps, the batter slips at the non-striker's end before coming for the second.
Although it first looks like he is comfortably out while completing the second run as he has a fair distance to make, replays confirm that the bail had already fallen and they needed to uproot the stumps which they fail to do and thus the match is forced into a golden ball.
However, eventually, it was Marsa who won the Golden ball.
Check out the video here:
The Golden Ball is nothing but a Super Over alternative to decide the winner in which the team batting second needs to score more than 1 run and they awarded only 1 extra ball.
The bowler who was bowling the final over needs to be bowling the Golden ball. However, any batter who hasn't been dismissed in the match to the point, either those who are yet to come or those who were retired can face that ball. If the team scores just 1 run or a dot ball then the team which bowled second is the winner.
In case the chasing team is bowling out and the match has gone to the Golden Ball, the batter who remained unbeaten will face the Golden Ball with the last man dismissed being at the non-striking end.