Cricket star Nic Maddinson was left bewildered after he turned round to see his bails had mysteriously fallen off. Maddinson was in action and captaining Melbourne Renegades as they took on Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash in Australia.
In the first game of the season, Maddinson opened the battling alongside Sam Harper, as the Renegades looked to get off to a quick start. And that they did, as the openers smashed 65 from the opening six overs, before Harper was the first to be dismissed.
The skipper looked to carry on the early assault having scored 42 runs from just 25 balls, with his team 72-2 after their first eight overs.
His stay at the crease looked to be over early on in the ninth though, as Maddinson pulled Heat star Mark Steketee down to deep-square leg. As he did, he thought he was out as the bails lit up and fell to the floor after he played the shot.
At first glance it looked as if Maddinson had hit his own stumps whilst playing the pull shot, but the batsman was left confused. The captain himself began to trudge off back to the dressing room, before umpires upstairs quickly realised the decision was incorrect.
A side-on replay clearly showed a gap between the stumps and both Maddinson and his bat, meaning the bail had fallen to the grown without any touch from the batsman or the ball. Renowned commentator Ian Smith was watching the game and was as shocked as anybody.
As the replays played through he was heard calling: "Oh what has happened there? What has happened there, what has it come off? The bail has just fallen off!" Unsurprisingly, Maddinson was called back to the crease to continue his innings.
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And the captain more than made up for it, as he went on to smash 87 off 49 balls which included 10 fours and three sixes. The innings proved to be an important one as his team went on to defeat the Heat by 22 runs.
Thanks to Maddinson's contribution and a quick 35 by Andre Russell, the Renegades set their opponents 166 for the win, and despite the best efforts of Heat skipper Jimmy Peirson who scored 43 from 30, his team could only manage 144 from their 20 overs.
