In modern day cricket, running between the wickets is a necessary skill as every extra run counts in the total that a team puts up on the scoreboard. The communication between the batsmen at the crease is crucial in completing a run or saying no to a risky run.
Tailenders, who are not used to staying at the crease for a long time, are probably the worst candidates for some good running between the wickets. Two cricketers from the Ireland cricket team, Craig Young and Boyd Rankin, displayed just this in the ongoing Ireland tour of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before the start of the ICC World T20 Qualifiers.
Before the two T20Is that Ireland were scheduled to play against UAE, the visitors played a tour T20 match on February 13, 2016, against Danube Cricket Club, a local cricket club based in the UAE, at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Danube Cricket Club won the toss and put Ireland into bat. They restricted the Irish to 136 as the visitors were bowled with three balls to spare. However, the last wicket that fell during the match was a perfect example of how not to run between the wickets and stresses the importance of good communication between the batsmen.
Rankin and Young batted at No. 10 and No. 11 respectively for Ireland and were playing the last over of the innings which was being bowled by Zahoor Khan. Young, who was on strike, struck the third ball of the over straight down the ground well, however, he hit it too straight as the ball hit the wickets at the bowler's end.
Rankin, who was ready to run, went back a few steps to the bowler's end seeing that the ball was still on the pitch. Young, on the other hand, bizarrely felt there was a run for the taking. This prompted Rankin to try and run to the wicketkeeper's end, despite the bowler being quite close to the ball.
In the video, it also has to be noted that the bowler, for a moment, contemplated throwing the ball at the keeper's end seeing Young halfway down the pitch. However, sense prevailed and he took the stumps at the bowler's end out with Rankin a few good yards out.
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