And suddenly 13-odd million Australians cried out with a “aaaaaaah, jeez, not there!”
England’s Alex Hales fell victim to one of the cruellest moments in cricket on Wednesday night at the Gabba, copping a Spencer Johnson delivery below the belt in the Thunder’s BBL chase against the Heat.
Johnson, whose pace helped him land a $1.78m IPL contract last week, was exactly who Hales didn’t want to be facing when an awkward length saw the Englishman suffer a blow to the plums.
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After letting out the noise no owner of male genitalia ever wants to make, Hales collapsed to the Gabba wicket, with Johnson briefly trying to appeal for LBW – it definitely didn’t hit leg first – before going over to check on his opponent.
“How’s that for jingle bells?” Brett Lee quipped on Fox Cricket.
Brendon Julian responded: “You can’t laugh, but for some reason, you have to.
“Got to be the worst feeling in cricket, that.”
The commentary team then failed to withhold their giggles while discussing the incident over the next few minutes.
But their biggest laugh came when they realised Johnson couldn’t stop smiling when checking on Hales.
“Watch the smirk, though,” Lee quipped.
Julian added: “I like the question (from Johnson to Hales), are you alright?”
Thankfully, he was, and batted on before being dismissed for 28 off 22 – thankfully for karma reasons, not off the bowling of Johnson, but Matt Kuhnemann.
Sorry, Alex. But you know you’d be laughing too if it was anyone else. As The Simpsons taught us, there’s nothing funnier than this.
He told Fox Cricket afterwards: “I reckon there was zero sympathy. From around the whole ground I could hear the laughter.”
Can probably change that to “whole country”…
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