VIDEO | Australia re-visit “Headingley Horror” as Nathan Lyon and Tim Paine goof up BJ Watling run-out
Four months have passed since Australia’s heart-breaking loss versus England at Headingley, but by the looks of things, the scars of the defeat seems to be still fresh on their players’ minds. On Day 3, Nathan Lyon and Tim Paine almost recreated the Ben Stokes ‘run-out’ to hand BJ Watling a life.
If you asked the Australian players what’s the one cricketing memory from 2019 that they would like to wipe clean, there are high chances of every single player unanimously answering “Day 4 of the Headingley Test”. And if you were to stretch it further and ask them the one moment they would like to forget, it would undoubtedly be that of the missed run-out of Ben Stokes. Well, at least Nathan Lyon would pick that for sure.
With England still two runs shy of victory and with Jack Leach a good 2-3 metres away from the non-strikers’ end and with the Ashes in sight, Lyon fumbled the easiest of run-outs to hand the tail-ender a life and subsequently England a victory. And while the Aussies did manage to retain the urn after that, the ghosts of Headingley, some believe, still tenant on their minds and well, Day 3 of the first Test against New Zealand all but confirmed it.
With Australia, one bowler short, desperate for a breakthrough on a scorching Saturday morning, Mitchell Starc was giving it his all to try and pierce the Kiwi batsmen and managed to create pressure through some tight bowling. And on the fourth ball of the 35th over, the pressure seemed to have clearly gotten to the New Zealand batsmen. After punching a good-length delivery from Starc off the back-foot through the covers, Ross Taylor sent his partner BJ Watling back to the keeper’s end after misjudging a run: there was never a two in it.
And with Watling stuck half-way down the track, Lyon sprung to the ball like a panther and let go of a quick throw towards keeper Tim Paine. At that moment, Watling’s dismissal seemed like a mere formality, but what followed triggered PTSD for all Australian fans. With Watling nowhere in the picture, Paine shockingly fumbled the ball, reminiscent of Lyon’s botch at Headingley in August, giving the Kiwi keeper a life in the process.
The throw from Lyon was an awkward one and Paine, who took his eyes off the ball just as he was about to collect it, ended up fumbling it. Marnus Labuschagne, who was fielding at short-leg, was also a mini-distraction as he initially tried to collect the ball, but the culprit there was, well and truly, Tim Paine. The goof-up also left Starc, who was giving it his all in the heat, agitated.
But luckily for the Aussies, it did not cost them as Watling added only 7 more runs to his tally before being cleaned up by Cummins. But hey, it does look like the Headingley Horror is still playing on their minds, after all.
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