Big Bash League: A Mankading attempt raises tempers in BBL | Cricket News
In what was a Mankading attempt, England all-rounder and Adelaide Strikers’ Jamie Overton issued a warning to Perth Scorchers batsman Finn Allen after removing the bails in the non-striker’s end following a fiery exchange between the two. Later, the all-rounder told the umpire that he was not appealing for the wicket.
In a Big Bash League match watched a crowd of 41,624 at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night, Overton was first smashed for 18 runs in his first over during the 143-run chase Scorchers. During the eighth over, Allen was short of the crease at the non-striker’s end when Overton hit the bails with the ball during the ‘Mankad’ attempt and issued a warning to the New Zealand batter Allen. Overton did not bowl again during the chase in the match with Scorchers winning the match seven wickets. He had a fiery exchange with the batsman at the change of overs before the umpire intervened.
“He did say to the umpire, no that’s the warning. I think that confrontation with Allen has gotten under his skin. He’s a competitor to Overton…. That confrontation a couple of overs ago is still right there on the surface,” former Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin said while commentating on Fox Cricket.
Our vibe shall attract the tribe Jamie🤩🤩 https://t.co/K8Ie7G9bdH
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) December 31, 2024
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Overton, who has played in one Test, 2 ODIS and 7 T20Is for England, had a disastrous outing with the bat in the match as he could only make one run during Adelaide’s innings. The 30-year-old then gave away 18 runs in his first over during Scorchers’ chase and the incident happened before the fireworks went off at the end of the eighth over. Scorchers bowler Jason Behendorff, who was in dug-out, was being interviewed Channel 7 when the incident happened. “Hang on a minute … Jamie Overton has attempted to Mankad Finn Allen. He is really getting into the verbal battle out there in the middle. Don’t worry about the explosions going on outside the ground, things are getting fiery inside the ground,” Commentator Aler Nicholson said while commentating.
Behrendorff, who had picked up two wickets earlier in the match, too shared his views on the incident on air. “Yeah, he is getting jousting. He is fired up tonight, Jamie Overton. It will be interesting to see what happens here now, the crowd really getting into it. When some batters get away from you, it might be an option. I haven’t actually attempted it so far. What it does do … you can see the fire that’s coming out of Jamie Overton at the moment, and I think that’s a really good thing for us. I know he wants to get into the contest and I know he gees himself up a bit, but I reckon you can put him off his game a little bit as well and the way Finn and Coops have been going, it is probably a little advantage for us,” Behrendorff said.
Former Australian cricketer and coach Justin Langer though was of the view that it should have been given out the umpire. “I think the goal posts have changed, they have moved, it’s out these days. Batters have a long time to get their head around to stay in their crease. Jamie Overton is well within his rights to give him his marching orders,” Langer said on Channel 7.
In the past, Indian all-rounder R Ashwin had Mankaded English batsman Jos Butler in an IPL match in 2019. Former Australian cricketer Greg Blewett too agreed that non strikers’ backing up is ‘cheating’. “I think everyone has gotten sick of when it’s getting close, particularly in white ball cricket, and when it comes down to the crunch, you have the non-striker sprinting before the bowler has let the ball go. That’s cheating. You are not allowed to do that,” Blewett said.
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