Yes, fiery deliveries from bowlers not only astonished the batsmen by taking their wickets but also by breaking their bats. Bats these days are highly durable and strongly made and designed to provide strong blows. But with time, even bowlers have improved and developed their pace. In this article we will discuss five such instances where bowlers ensured the batsmen had to call for a change of bats during the match.
The first name in the list is of Javed Miandad. In a 1993 match between Pakistan and South Africa, Javed Miandad’s bat broke in half as he tried to hit a ball from Meyrick Pringle. One of the commentators called it an ‘unusual’ incident and correctly so, as it wasn’t a fast ball but a slower from the bowler. Miandad signaled his dressing room to send the wicketkeeper’s bat while the commentator joked, “I don’t think there would be many volunteers in the dressing room now willing to lend their bats.” A young fan got lucky because of this incident and collected the broken bat later on as a souvenir.
The second name in the list is of Mahela Jayawardene. In a Group A match against Afghanistan at Dunedin, a delivery from Shapoor Zadran broke Mahela Jayawardene’s bat. The Sri Lankan was at 43 and only a gentle push from his bat led to this incident. The new willow proved lucky for Jayawardene as he went on to score his 19th ODI century. At one point the Lankans were struggling at 18-3, but Jayawardene’s 100 runs from 120 balls helped Lanka win the game. This was Sri Lanka’s first win in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
The third name in the list is of Lakshmipathy Balaji. India vs Pakistan matches always draw a lot of attention. One such ODI match in 2004 at Lahore got even more interesting than usual as India’s Lakshmipathy Balaji broke his bat while trying to hit a six off a Shoaib Akhtar delivery. Before the incident Balaji was playing the Rawalpindi Express’s deliveries with ease. He had also hit a six off one of his deliveries for which the latter kept telling him, “I still remember your six, okay? I have to give it back” during Pakistan’s return tour of India in 2005.
The fourth name in the list is of Michael Carberry. In the fifth Test of Ashes 2014, English opener Michael Carberry tried to play a defensive shot but what followed was a complete surprise for everyone. The delivery from Ryan Harris had Carberry’s Kookaburra bat broken into two pieces. Many compared the incident to England’s poor performance in the series. 2014 was the first time when Carberry played the coveted Ashes series. He scored 281 runs at an average of 28.1 in the series.
The fifth name in the list is of Vusi Sibanda. In a match during the 2009-10 bilateral ODI series between West Indies and Zimbabwe, pacer Kemar Roach literally broke his opponent’s defense. Zimbabwean batsman Vusi Sibanda, who was going good in the match, tried to block one of Roach’s yorkers. However, the ball did not change its path, and went on to break the batsman’s willow and finally hit the stumps. It came as a surprise to Sibanda who was at 95 and missed a century.
