AUS vs PAK | Twitter and players share giggles as Richard Illingworth's lift mishap forces long delay

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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From animal and crowd invasions to equipment malfunction, one would imagine cricket has experienced every possible form of delay across centuries of existence. However, Thursday threw up another unique situation when the third umpire got stuck in a lift forcing a substantially long pause in play.

‌Pakistan fought their way back into the Boxing Day Test with unflinching furor on Day 3 by reducing Australia to 16/4 after conceding a first-innings lead of 64 runs. Mir Hamza and Shaheen Afridi played the roles of wrecker-in-chief with two scalps each on either side of Lunch but an unexpectedly long period of time separated the moments of glory for the visitors, courtesy of a bizarre set of circumstances.
After the regulated 40-minute break in play, batters David Warner and Steve Smith had walked onto the pitch while the Men in Green fielders positioned themselves around the field and Hamza took the ball in hand to begin the fourth over. However, just as play was about to resume, the two on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough approached each other with the former visibly working hard to control his laughter. The commentators eventually relayed the reason for the same being that third umpire Richard Illingworth had got stuck in a lift while returning to his working space from lunch and play couldn't continue without his essential services.
The cameras panned to David Warner giggling away alongside SMith as both contingents converged around the middle of the pitch with a general sense of good humour palpably enveloping the field of play. When there was still no news of Illingworth after a few minutes, fourth umpire Phillip Gillespie had to rush upstairs from the boundary ropes to temporarily take up the third umpire duties and avoid any further delays. Normal service was resumed two balls later when Illingworth finally made his way upto his designated space and immediately let out a hearty laugh as the absurd sequence of events sunk in, sending Twitter into frenzy.

This is just bizzare

Error 404 : Umpire not found

Wild!

Unbeliveable

Call 911

Delayed start (once again)

Waiting game is on!

Match paused

Umpire swap

True

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