Of late, zing bails have been in controversy as they have refused to come off even when the ball had hit the stumps. The most recent incident being Shreyas Iyer given not out as the bails did not come off after hitting the stumps. However, thousands of miles away in ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) 2022-23, fans witnessed something they had never seen before. Without any contact with the bat or the batter, the zing bails came off which almost cost Melbourne Renegades skipper Nic Maddinson his wicket.
The incident took place in the ninth over of Renegades' innings. Maddinson was on strike against Brisbane Heat pacer Mark Steketee. The opener played a pull shot and barely got any bat on it. The ball went over the stumps and the zing bails lit up as one of them fell on the ground. Maddinson thought he had been dismissed hit wicket but the replay showed that there was no contact with the stumps.
Like everyone commentator Ian Smith reacted to the bail getting dislodged on its own as he said, “Oh what’s happened there? What’s it come off? The bails have just come off.”
“All I can think is when his back foot swivelled round and made contact with the ground, it shook the ground. Maybe it wasn’t that stable, because it looked when he put that back foot down closest to the stumps, the bail fell off.
“Who knows? Spooky.”
The TV umpire Stephen Dionysius reviewed the decision and gave Maddinson not out. Maddinson was batting on 42 at the time. He went on to score 87 runs from 49 deliveries before missing out on an opportunity to hit a century. The southpaw hit 10 fours and three sixes in his knock.
Maddinson’s 87 followed by Andre Russell's 28-ball 35 helped Renegades post a fighting total of 166/7 despite batting collapse. In reply, Jimmy Peirson-led Brisbane Heat managed to score 144/6 as they lost the game by 22 runs. West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein made an impressive BBL debut as he picked up three wickets and conceded just 15 runs from his quota of four overs.
