SL vs IRE | Twitter in disbelief as three Irish drops in four balls breathes life into down-and-out Lanka

Gantavya Adukia

ByGantavya Adukia,SportsCafe Editor

13

A dropped catch is simply a part and parcel of cricket, a routine mistake that even the best teams in the world seem to make more often than they should. Yet, Ireland took it to new extremes against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Sunday to ruin what had thus far been a world class bowling performance.

Sri Lanka stuttered horridly in the middle overs against Ireland in their 2026 T20 World Cup opener at the R Premadasa Stadium as they followed up a 50-run powerplay by scoring just 37 in the ensuing seven-over period, losing three wickets at that. The hosts were tangled brilliantly in a web strung together by Ireland's seemingly unlimited spin resources, as the visitors found themselves staring at a substantially subpar score with the Lions at 104/4 with four overs to go. Little did they know what mayhem was to follow.

Mark Humphreys, who had begun the bowling with his quick arm-balls, was handed the Kookaburra to finish his quota and began with a poor full-toss that should have been duly put away by Kusal Mendis. However, the settled veteran failed to connect properly and the white rock soared high in the sky with both long-on and long-off converging on it. Yet, in a moment of sheer hilarity, Curtis Campher significantly overran and ended up sliding on the deck while the ball flew by his head, allowing Mendis to sneak two when he should have been heading back into the pavilion. Two deliveries later, Humphreys fired in a length ball to Mendis who went down on one knee and tried to ramp the ball over short fine-leg but was once again found wanting for timing.  However, this time it was Barry McCarthy who failed to judge the trajectory correctly and ran a few metres away from where the ball was headed, his correction to late to get anywhere meaningfully close to the Kookaburra to take a catch. Evidently frustrated, Humphreys delivered a ball right in the slot as a result to Kamindu Mendis, and the youngster ipumped it straight down to the ground towards long-off. The towering George Dockrell steamed towards the travelling white rock and got there in time but like his compatriots before could not hold on, the ball bursting through his hands to go all the way for a maximum.

As it turned out, the over went for 21 runs and allowed the Lions to get to what seemed an unfathomable 163/6, much to Twitterati's dismay. 

Dropped!

Hilarious!

Poor fielding!

50!

Hattrick chance!

Lol!

Half century!

Fifty

hah!

Yeah

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