Random Cricket Photos Post 25



"Oh what a catch. And what an equally brilliant photograph!"

If those are your first thoughts when you see this photo by Adrien Murrell, I will ask you to just hold on.

This is a picture from the 1985 Lord's Test played between the Ashes rivals Australia and England. After getting out for 290, England had picked up four wickets with Australia's score on just 101.
That's when Allan Border joined forces with Greg Ritchie to launch a rearguard action. Border had reached 87 when facing Phil Edmonds, the left-hander advanced down the track and flicked the ball on the on-side.

Stationed at short-leg, Mike Gatting panicked when the ball deposited itself in his hands. And then when panic and jubilation met, he kicked the ball in the air and tried to latch on to it by throwing his big body at it and going for it with his left hand. While Allan Border walked with his head down towards the pavilion, thinking the innings had ended, Gatting behind him had made a meal of the catch in front of his skipper David Gower.

It's in this moment that Murrell clicked this photo, which, in a way, tells an incomplete tale. What it shows is a brilliant catch that never was. What it fails to tell is the funny drop that Gatting till date claims wasn't a drop since he never had the ball in control.

Post Gatting's mistake, the Australian took his score to 196 and took his team to 425 in the first innings. England faltered in the second innings and the visitors won the match by 7 wickets.
Moral of the story - Don't believe everything that your eyes see.

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