After laughing at Alex Hales when he was twice hit in the nether regions during The Hundred last year, Sam Billings has admitted "it serves me right" after suffering a similar fate himself.
During the match between the Trent Rockets and Oval Invincibles last season, Reece Topley hit Hales right where it hurts in consecutive deliveries. And Billings, who captained the Invincibles in that match, could be seen laughing behind the stumps along with Topley and even umpire Nigel Llong.
However, this year Billings was the unfortunate victim as he missed an attempted reverse sweep off Welsh Fire spinner Adam Zampa and was struck below the belt. Pain was etched on Billings' face as he collapsed to the ground, while both Kevin Pietersen and Robert Croft had a laugh at his expense on commentary.
And when asked about it post-match, Billings told Sky Sports: "It serves me right. I was laughing at Alex Hales at the Oval last year when he had two in two.
"It doesn't get any better with age. I was in strife when I got out as well, I was in a lot of strife."
The Invincibles ultimately won the match by 39 runs after Will Jacks' explosive 81 off 45 balls saw them post a total of 158-5. In response, the Fire managed just 119-6, with spinner Sunil Narine taking 3-21 and Tom Curran picking up 2-14.
Reflecting on the victory, Billings added: "Always here at Cardiff it's about using the pitch. It can be very two-paced, as we saw today. It's made for Sunil Narine.
"He bowled in the nets yesterday on a very similar surface, and I don't think anyone hit him! He got about 17 wickets... He's just a world-class performer, and for a captain he can just bowl at any phase of the game, which is huge.
"Will Jacks also batted beautifully, earning the right at the end on a difficult pitch. We lost too many wickets early the other night. He's a young player who's got an exciting future ahead of him. That was a coming-of-age knock."
