VIDEO | Moises Henriques comes up with outrageous scoop towards third-man to send SCG into a frenzy

12/28/2019

Just when you think you've seen it all, batsmen keep taking innovations to new heights, coming up with outrageous shots to leave the general viewer perplexed. Today in the BBL, it was Moises Henriques' turn to do the same, as he thwarted the ball to a six over third-man with a 'conventional scoop'.

The Big Bash League (BBL) has the knack of giving us weird and quirky moments. This season, less than 15 days after the commencement of the tournament, we've already seen a bizarre 'unintentional' stumping from Josh Philippe, a superhuman catch from Chris 'Air' Jordan and Jhye Richardson bowling from square-leg to inflict an impossible run-out. Almost every game provided us with a 'play of the season' moment, and today, the Sydney Derby between the Sixers and the Thunder, was no different.

Thanks to Tom Curran's heroics - first with the ball and then with the bat - the Sixers, out of nowhere, managed to stretch the match to a super over from a literal no-way-out situation. But after Curran was dismissed on the very first ball of the one-over shootout, all the pressure was on the shoulders of skipper Moises Henriques, who'd scored a well-compiled 30-ball 41 in the Sixers' pursuit of 150 in the actual match.

Henriques's outrageous scoop off a half-volley on the third ball of the super over, which subsequently went for a four over the head of the fine-leg fielder, was incredible and gutsy enough, but what he pulled off two balls later left everyone in shock and in awe of the all-rounder. On the fourth ball of the super over, with the Sixers 8/1 in three balls, Chris Morris, in an attempt to castle Henriques, bowled a quick one targetting the stumps.

The South African, however, did not execute his delivery to perfection and ended up bowling a full-toss. By now though, Henriques had already made up his mind to go for a scoop shot and was a good foot outside the off-stump in an attempt to execute the shot. And execute the shot he did, so much so that it went for a six, but that was not the beauty of it.

The Sydney Sixers skipper outrageously dispatched the ball over third-man, despite playing a conventional scoop. As he met the ball on the full, Henriques, instead of just guiding it over fine-leg, decided the close the bat face and flick his wrist towards the off-side, intending to play it over third-man. And the connection was so good that the ball flew over the boundary-line to add six valuable runs to the scoreboard.

This stupendous hit from Henriques sent everyone at the SCG - including the commentators - into a frenzy and eventually turned out to be the decisive hit that won them the game. Innovation never dies, they say; you can now understand why.