VIDEO | James Vince and Sam Billings' stunning tag-team effort stops the ball from a sure boundary
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While cricket has seen many tag-team efforts on the field, James Vince and Sam Billings today showed one of a different kind and it seemed as if they ordered it not to touch the rope. Vince first dived to stop it from hitting the rope, and then Billings pulled it an inch away from hitting the rope.
With an undefeated Australia having already booked a final's berth for the Trans-Tasman Cup final, England and New Zealand - two struggling teams in the shortest form of the game lately – took the match as an opportunity to shrug off their recent sluggish efforts. And it seemed the hosts, New Zealand put the first step forward as thanks to brilliant innings of Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson, they started the innings really well.Â
In a desperate bid to pick some wickets, skipper Jos Buttler resorted to Mark Wood, but even he didn’t have the best of the starts. On the fourth ball of the 16th over, when Williamson slogged his length ball, the inevitable was bound to happen – another boundary. Or was it? James Vince who was stationed at deep mid wicket position ran towards the ball and stopped from crossing the boundary at the last moment. However, he failed to push the ball to the proper side and as a result, the ball just moved straight, parallel to the boundary rope and was just an inch or two away when the magic happened.
Sam Billings instantly chased the ball and pulled it from that position to throw back to the bowling end. While it seemed nothing but an easy pick for the Billing, it was actually not. It required enough amount of concentration and presence of mind to pull that off and boy did Billings just do that?Â
