Irish batsman Joyce survives bail scare

Brisbane, Feb 25:

In one of the most unusual scenes seen on the cricket ground, Ireland batsman Ed Joyce survived being bowled off an Amjad Javed delivery in a World Cup Pool B encounter against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) here Wednesday when the ball hit the stumps leaving the red-lights flashing but failing to dislodge the bails.

Chasing a target of 279, Ireland were 35 for one, when Javed bowled the fourth delivery of the 10th over. Joyce missed the ball which grazed the left-hander’s off-stump and the zing bail lit up and got some air. But then it settled back down onto the stump — so incredibly Joyce remained not out.

The bowler could do nothing but laughed about the incident with his teammates. Joyce was batting on 16 runs then.

Javed, however, got his revenge — this time again off his fourth delivery — in the 18th over as Joyce edged the ball to Swapnil Patil on 37.

A similar bail incident took place last year in a Big Bash League (BBL) match between Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder when David Hussey of Stars survived a run-out attempt because the bails stayed put. IANS