VIDEO | Katherine Brunt’s ‘sportsmanship’ backfires as South Africa win after escaping mankad
We’re all quite familiar with the ‘nice guys finish last’ saying and in the WT20 clash between SA W and ENG W, Katherine bore the Brunt of her own kindness. After Brunt ‘faked’ a mankad and let the non-striker off with a warning, the striker du Preez hit a six and a four to guide South Africa home.
It’s 2020 and I’m pretty sure that by now, we’re all sick and tired of the ever-lasting, raging debate over the ‘mankad’ rule. The rule seemed to have been forgotten and the debate seemed to have been cooled down for a while, but a few weeks ago, Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad rekindled the fire by mankading Pakistan’s Mohammad Hurraira in a U19 WC game. And courtesy England’s Katherine Brunt, we have the second such incident in under a month that has, unsurprisingly, divided opinion.
The incident occurred on the third ball of the last over of the WT20 game between England Women and South Africa Women, a game that had gone to the wire. Chasing 124, the equation for South Africa to get over the line was 7 needed off 4 balls and Katherine Brunt was given the responsibility to defend the score for England. Brunt came steaming in to deliver the third ball of the over, but just moments before releasing the ball, she stopped abruptly and gave a mankad warning to non-striker Sune Luus, who was clearly seen backing up way too far.
Brunt like what Keemo Paul did against Zimbabwe in a U19 game three years ago, could have easily mankaded the non-striker, but she instead chose to not do it and let South Africa off the hook with a warning. But well, nice people always finish last, don’t they? Brunt’s act of kindness, or should I rather say lack of ruthlessness, backfired immediately, as the next two balls off the over were hit for a six and a four by the batsman Mignon du Preez, who took South Africa home.
The incident, unsurprisingly, divided opinions on Twitter with several people lauding Brunt and a good chunk lambasting her for not actually mankading the batsman. And with this incident, the legend of Mankad lives on. And oh, just in case you didn’t know, Brunt incidentally won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award in 2014. Coincidence much?
With the game on the line, Katherine Brunt could have dismissed Sune Luus at the non-striker's end, but opted not to. Moments later Mignon du Preez blasted a game-defining six.
— ICC (@ICC) February 23, 2020
What do you think? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/oPqeUdo7Hl
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