Ball passes through the stumps; bails remain intact, old Test match video viral

There has been many instances in cricket where the bails have not dropped even after the ball has made contact with the stumps. However, it is unheard of for the bails to stay intact even after the ball has passed through the stumps. Meanwhile, a bizarre incident occurred during a tennis ball tournament in Surat, where the ball managed to get past the stumps but not enough to drop the bails. The bowler was left scratching his head as the umpire gave the batter not out. 

Meanwhile, a cricket enthusiast brought attention to a comparable situation that happened during an international match. During a 1997 Test match between Pakistan and South Africa, Mushtaq Ahmed’s delivery went through the stumps, but the bails did not hit the ground during the first innings of the third Test of the series at Faisalabad. South Africa bowler Pat Symcox was bowled by a flipper by Ahmed, who caused him to miss the ball’s flight and end up beaten all over.

But then, as the ball slid between the off and middle stumps, Symcox was given an unexpected reprieve. After seeing the replays, the commentators noticed the mistake which they hadn’t noticed before.

Watch the videos:

This has to be seen to be belived! 🤯
This is the luckiest that a batter can get. 🙏🏻

Via Surat Tennis Cricket on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/tEwHULbP9q

— Omkar Mankame (@Oam_16) February 9, 2024

RARE CRICKET INCIDENT:

Ball goes through the stumps. Bails remain intact. This happened during the 3rd Test of SA in Pak in 1997-98. A Mushtaq Ahmed delivery goes straight THROUGH the stumps & everyone is baffled. A tiny 22 sec clip of this is on YT but here’s extended footage. pic.twitter.com/yTYc8poFgG

— Mainak Sinha🏏📽️ (@cric_archivist) November 12, 2020

Also read: ‘I told him I was going to unleash him in South Africa’ – Ravi Shastri reveals conversation with Bumrah before latter’s Test advent

“Well that was a quicker one and Symcox making a little bit of room for himself. And I dare say he got a little edge onto his pad otherwise we would have had a very loud appeal,” the commentator was heard saying on-air. 

“That looked like a flipper, a real quicker one and it kept low, don’t know what happened there,” said former England batter Geoffrey Boycott before the commentators realised that the ball had gone through the stumps.

Also read: South Africa name uncapped sextet for one-off Australia Test

“It went through the stumps! I thought he was bowled myself, and then when he didn’t go, Henry said it must have hit the bat onto the pad, but it went straight through the stumps. Can you believe it? I’ve never seen that. I have never seen that before. I’ve seen a lot of cricket around the world, but there’s always something new you can learn,” he added.