VIDEO | Marnus Labuchagne inflicts lightning-fast reflex run-out despite losing his pants while diving
From a successful county season to a triumphant Ashes, the English summer of 2019 has belonged to Marnus Labuschagne and it looks it's not ending anytime soon. On Sunday, the Queenslander, despite losing his pants, pulled off a stunning instinctive run-out to send Chris Tremain packing.
Less than 10 matches into the tournament, the 2019 edition of Australia's domestic ODI Cup has already given us plenty of entertainment to rave about. From blistering knocks to surreal collapses to crowd catches to umpires leaving the field retired hurt, the first week of the Marsh ODI cup has been a rollercoaster ride, to say the least, and fittingly, Marnus Labuschagne on Sunday topped it off with probably the most hilarious cricketing moment of the year.
Chasing a stiff target of 323, Victoria found themselves in a deep hole at 106/7 and it looked like it was a matter of time before the Queenslanders wrapped things up. Youngster Will Sutherland looked like the only shining light for the Victorians and the 19-year-old tried to save his side from a certain embarrassment by taking the attack to the Queensland bowlers with little help from his partners on the other end.
On the fifth ball of the 29th over, left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann bowled a half-tracker outside off-stump to Sutherland and the youngster punched it through his backfoot to Labuschagne at short cover. As the 25-year-old dove to his left to stop the ball, the two Victorian batsmen took off instantly, sensing that there was a single there for the taking, especially due to the fact that Labuschagne's natural throwing arm wasn't left.
However, as the non-striker Chris Tremain was strolling towards the danger end, Labsuchagne showed incredible reflex and presence of mind, shifting the ball from his left hand to the right and fizzling a throw towards the keeper whilst he was on the ground. Completely taken aback by surprise, Tremain, who was slow off the blocks, found himself a good two to three yards short of the ground. The keeper Jimmy Peirson took the bails off in a flash and Tremain had to make the walk of shame back to the pavilion, thanks to his laziness and the fielder's brilliance.
However, the highlight of the whole incident was, in fact, Labuschagne losing his pants in the process of throwing the ball to the keeper. As he dove to the ground, the Queenslander lost his pants but yet unphased by it, came up with a pinpoint throw to catch the batsman short of his ground. Maybe Labuschagne is someone who'd keep playing even if you set his pants on fire.
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