10 worst leaves by batsmen in recent times

Glenn Maxwell is bowled while leaving the ball in a BBL matchGetting bowled is one of the worst ways of being dismissed for any batsman. It can be all the more embarrasing when someone loses his stumps while attempting to leave the ball. However, cricket is no stranger to such misjudgements on the part of the batsmen and it does happen more often in Test cricket.Swashbuckling Australian batsman Glen Maxwell took it a step further recently and was dismissed bowled while leaving the ball in a domestic T20 match at the Big Bash League. Let’s take a look at some occasions when this has happened in international cricket in the recent past:

#10 Peter Nevill lets go of an absolute peach from James Anderson

Nevill spelt disaster for himself and his team with a startling misjudgement

The last Ashes series, which was played in England in 2015, did not turn out to be a memorable one for Australia as they lost 3-2. For most part of the series, the batsmen were all at sea against the swing of Anderson and Broad.

The 3^rd Test at Edgbaston saw the Aussies getting dismissed for 136 in their 1^st innings. Their poor batting was summed up in the way wicketkeeper Peter Nevill was dismissed as he attempted to leave a big inswinger from James Anderson and the ball went on to hit the stumps.

#9 Stiaan van Zyl pays the price for leaving a sharp one from Stuart Broad

van Zyl was not too keen to put bat on ball here

South Africa’s glory days in Test cricket seem to be heading towards an end and fast. This is being demonstrated in the way their batsmen have struggled to get going even on pitches in their own backyard.

Stiaan van Zyl is one among the new crop of Proteas batsman who are still yet to come to terms with the longest format of the game. In the 1^st Test of the recently concluded series against England, van Zyl was dismissed in the very first over as he shouldered arms to an incurler from Stuart Broad.

#8 Moeen Ali totally misreads an inswinging ball from Matt Henry

Moeen Ali allows the ball to go where it wanted to

New Zealand’s rise as a cricketing powerhouse in the past year or so has been there for everyone to see. Their outstanding fightback to level the series against England last year was inspirational to say the least.

Chasing an improbable 455 to win, England never looked comfortable in their 2^nd innings and kept losing wickets. Allrounder Moeen Ali had done well in the previous Test, however, he fell for 2 during England’s run chase as he left alone a Matt Henry delivery which darted back to hit the stumps.

#7 Mitchell Marsh\'s disastrous leave against India\'s Ishant Sharma

Mitchell Marsh makes quite a mockery of himself by leaving an inswinger

The Indian managed to put up a decent Australia on their last trip to Australia despite losing the Test series 2-0. While the batsmen did most of the good work, the bowlers performed well only in parts and had to toil pretty hard.

However, there were a few moments to savour for the bowlers too, such as Ishant Sharma’s delivery to get rid of Mitchell Marsh in the 2^nd Test at Brisbane. The ball pitched outside off and jagged back a long way to hit off stump even as Marsh was busy shouldering arms to let the ball go.

#6 KL Rahul is done in while leaving a Nuwan Pradeep indipper

India’s KL Rahul is comprehensively bowled in an attempt of leave the ball

One of India’s current Test openers, KL Rahul, has had a strange career so far. This is because he is either scoring centuries or getting dismissed for single digit scores in the opportunities that he manages to get.

The last Test he played was against Sri Lanka at the SSC in Colombo and he was dismissed in both innings for 2, that too in identical fashion. On both occasions, he was guilty of leaving inswinging deliveries from Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep respectively and ended up getting out bowled.

#5 Michael Hussey fails to read a Harbhajan Singh \'doosra\'

Hussey has no idea how that turned inwards

Struggle has been the order of the day for the Australian team on most of their recent trips to India. The major trouble that their batsmen have faced is in how they are to negotiate the Indian spinners, whether it is Harbhajan, Ashwin and Jadeja.

In the 1^st Test of the 2008 Border Gavaskar Trophy at Bangalore, Australia did manage to secure a comfortable draw but had their share of struggles. Michael Hussey had scored a big hundred in Australia’s 1^st innings and was looking settled in the second essay too.

When he was batting on 31, Harbhajan Singh delivered a ‘doosra’ from round the wicket which Hussey tried to leave and the ball crashed against his leg stump.

#4 Michael Clarke foxed by a huge inswinger from James Anderson

Clarke completely misjudges the ball and it crashes against his stumps

Michael Clarke may have had a great batting career for Australia, but he was clearly out of sorts during his last few years. Clarke may have had a decent run in the 2013/14 Ashes series, which Australia won 5-0, but he was far from his best.

One of the great examples of this came in the 4^th Test at Melbourne when the ace Australian batsman tried to leave an in-dipper from England’s James Anderson and the ball removed his bails. It was perhaps one of the worst leaves from a batsman in recent memory.

#3 Jacques Kallis shoulders arms to a screamer from Stuart Broad

Even the great Jacques Kallis had no clue about this

Durban has not been a happy hunting ground for the South Africans, particularly in Tests. In the 2009/10 home series against England, the Proteas lost the 2^nd Test at Durban by a gigantic margin of an innings and 98 runs. When South Africa came in to bat in their second innings, they were still trailing 231 runs.

This used to be a tailior-made situation for someone like Jacques Kallis to come up with the perfect rescue act. Unfortunately for the hosts, though, Kallis attempted to leave an incoming delivery from Stuart Broad and saw his off stump sent cartwheeling, thereby reducing the team score to 40 for 3.

#2 Virat Kohli\'s horrendous leave against England

Kohli gets out bowled shouldering arms to England’s Liam Plunkett

India’s performance in Tests on the 2014 tour to England was nothing short of poor and the same can be said about ace batsman Virat Kohli. He was troubled throughout the series by England’s bowlers, particularly James Anderson. Such was Kohli’s predicament that he even struggled in the only Test won by India at Lord’s.

After having been dismissed by Anderson in the first innings for 25, Virat Kohli fell for a first-ball duck as he attempted to shoulder arms to a sharp inswinger from England’s Liam Plunkett. The stylish batsman could not recover from this and ended up failing badly in the 5-Test series.

#1 Hashim Amla misses one from Ravindra Jadeja

Amla lets one pass through the gate much to the amusement of Jadeja

It was the beginning of what would turn out to be a disastrous Test series not only for Hashim Amla but for his team as well. South Africa required 218 runs to win the 1st Test on a treacherous Mohali pitch with as many as 3 full days to complete the task. They had made a poor start losing two wickets with the score at 9.

Things only got worse when skipper Hashim Amla tried to leave a straighter one from Ravindra Jadeja and the ball hit middle stump. The Proteas failed to recover from Amla's loss and conceded the match to India by 108 runs.