WATCH | Ben McDermott pulls off cricket’s most hilarious stumping without even pouching the ball

06/04/2023

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Cricket fields never fail to produce comical moments, and many of them remain in fans’ memories depending on how funny the incidents are. One such event took place on Saturday when Hampshire wicket-keeper Ben McDermott stumped his counterpart Michael Burgess with zero glovework behind the stumps.

One of Australia’s familiar faces in the domestic circuit, Hampshire’s Ben McDermott made headlines against Sussex in their Vitality T20 Blast fixture at The Rose Bowl. The 28-year-old and James Vince saw off the 145-run target in just 14.5 overs with all ten wickets to spare, with the former scoring a steady 51-ball 69 not out to get the job done. But more than that, what he did while keeping wickets during the 10th over of Hampshire’s innings attracted a lot of fans across the world.

Having got Shadab Khan on the fourth ball of the over, Liam Dawson was high on confidence to bowl the remaining two deliveries. After conceding just two runs off his first over, he came to bowl the second over of the day. Batting on 3 off 2 balls, Hampshire wicket-keeper batter Michael Burgess failed to pick up Dawson’s flighted delivery that drifted in. Burgess played outside the line, and thus, he was beaten on the inside edge. The momentum of the shot took him out of the crease, leading McDermott to do a regulation stumping. However, the Aussie failed to collect the ball altogether, and the ball went on to hit his lower abdomen area before it ricocheted onto the wickets.

Although McDermott was hurt for a little while, the moment he saw Burgess was out of the crease when the wickets were broken, he leaped in joy. The leg-umpire did not take much time to raise the finger either, while Dawson, despite knowing how it happened, was delighted to get two wickets in the space of three balls.

Here's the stumping video: