Henry Nicholls got out caught off a rebound from the bat of non-striker Daryl Mitchell in one of the unluckiest dismissals on a cricket field on June 23. The left-hander was left to rue his extremely poor fortune as his wicket perhaps summed up New Zealand’s horrible Test tour of England.
Having fought really hard for his iffy but important knock of 19 off 98 deliveries in a crucial partnership with Mitchell, the batter was facing spinner Jack Leach from the over-the-wicket angle for the left-armer.
Finding one too full from Leach, Nicholls went for an on-drive that should’ve fetched him four runs, given how well the ball had been timed. Instead, the ball ricocheted off the bat of non-striker Mitchell and went straight into the hands of mid-off fielder Alex Lees.
The catch from Lees completed a painful dismissal for Nicholls, who had struggled for flow at the crease but was at least surviving in the middle when the Black Caps, 3 for 62 upon his arrival, desperately needed him to stay there.
It was one of the most bizarre dismissals one would come across on a cricket field, with the non-striker trying to evade a stroke coming in his direction but ending up enabling a rebound that actually led to his partner’s downfall.
Up until that point, Nicholls had done his best to find some flow to his scratchy knock, but had managed to stitch a partnership of 38 runs either side of tea with Mitchell on Day 1 of the third Test in Leeds. Just when those two looked like building onto something substantial, the Kiwis, as has been the case throughout the series, lost whatever footing they had gained.
Even the opposition camp was left shocked by the manner of the wicket, with Leach amusingly stating he didn’t know this mode of dismissal was “allowed”.
“I didn’t even know if that was allowed. I don’t actually like the dismissal but I felt like I bowled pretty well to Nicholls leading up to that… you just have to take it. It’s a silly game, isn’t it? That’s what it made me think: it’s a stupid game that we play,”
he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
