In the third unofficial One Day International between Bangladesh A and New Zealand A, wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan was left red-faced when his awkward positioning behind the stumps resulted in the ball hitting the helmet on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the fifth over of the second innings of the match when pacer Ebadot Hossain was bowling. Chasing 228, Rhys Mairu and Dale Phillips were batting with scorecard reading 35 for 0 when Ebadot bowled a straight ball that was left alone by Mariu and it hit the helmet as Nurul decided to stand closer to first slip instead of the conventional wicket-keeper’s position. The ball ran towards short third man before it was fielded.
While Nurul wore an expression as if he didn’t expect the ball to go straight, even the batters looked confused. Eventually Phillips and Mairu took a single with the umpire rewarding five runs as penalty.
The rule 28.3.2 of Cricketing laws formulated by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) states,”If the ball while in play strikes the protective helmet the ball shall immediately become dead and he umpire shall signal No ball or Wide to the scorers, if applicable or umpire shall award 5 Penalty runs to the batting side.
The incident looked like a brain-fade moment from Nurul, who was also the captain of the side, placing himself far away from the conventional trajectory of the ball.
New Zealand A won the game easily chasing down the 228 target in the 48th over with Dean Foxcroft taking them over the line.
The 31-year-old Nurul has 157 List-A matches besides a hord of 214 T20 and 109 First-Class appearances. The right-handed batter last represented the national side in 2023 in Mirpur. Having featured in 64 matches across formats, Nurul has aggregated over 1000 runs and 50-plus fielding dismissals.
In the ongoing series, Nurul has scored 144 runs in three matches in Sylhet, including a century in the second one-dayer.
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