Random Cricket Photos Post 10
Before he turned his back on honesty, Lou Vincent was as entertaining and committed a cricketer as one would expect to come out of New Zealand. And on one occasion, he put his commitment and a bit more on full display.
In the final ODI against West Indies in 2006, after getting out cheaply for 1 when New Zealand batted, Vincent gave his all on the field. One of his efforts during the chase included diving and saving the ball from making it to the boundary rope. In the process, though, the pants came off, revealing what Vincent probably didn't wake up expecting to be on show in the match.
But his white underpants on display were the last thing on Vincent's mind and he got up, picked the ball and took a couple of steps to get rid of the ball as the crowds had a good chuckle behind him.
Too bad for Vincent and his white underpants, West Indies still managed to sneak a last over win. However, since it was the final match of a series whose first four matches had already been won by the Kiwis, Vincent and his underpants wouldn't have really rued that loss much!
This, however, isn't the most famous throw from Lou Vincent. The most famous one resulted in a run-out that didn't even get credited to his account. I'm talking about the one that led to Lara's run-out in the 2003 World Cup. Going for the third run, Lara was found short of the crease when Vincent hurled one from the outfield but not at the stumps. Instead, he threw it to Cairns at mid-wicket who in a single motion, threw down the stumps at the non-striker's end in a crazy display of baseball styled relay throw. This, by no means, was a fluke but a well-orchestrated dismissal.
Ahead of the World Cup, New Zealand players were sent to the USA to watch Major League Baseball to hone their fielding skills. One thing they did learn from there was the relay throw, something which we saw recently from Virat Kohli against Vincent's team in a T20I.
Just like Kohli's throw, Vincent's throw in 2003 also proved to be a match winning one. After the match, elaborating on the strategy, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said, "That's our first fish with the relay throw and it's a pretty big fish to fry."
"We've done a lot of work on it, we know when to use it and how to use it and today it won us the match."
Of course, Brian Lara was surprised. So, was his skipper Carl Hooper who commented later: "Relays are useful on big Australian grounds, but you don't expect to see the tactic on small grounds like this one."
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