5 cricketers who missed matches for strange reasons

It is quite common for players to miss out on a few matches here and there in cricket. Injuries are more often than not the primary reason for this, while the recent trend of resting big players in less important matches is also a factor. Sometimes, even playing conditions may warrant a player to sit out of a match to accomodate others.But there have been moments in the history of cricket when players have come up with the strangest of reasons for not playing a match. Most recently, Delhi batsman Unmukt Chand skipped a domestic match due to an exam which he had to attend.Let’s take a look at five cricketers who had strange reasons for missing out on matches:

#1 Ted Dexter - run over by his own car

Dexter missed out on an Ashes series because of his freak accident

Former English cricketer Ted Dexter had one of the strangest reasons for not only missing out on an Ashes series but also bringing an end to his career. The story goes that his Jaguar broke down on Chiswick Flyover in London and he decided to push it through to the nearest garage.

Unfortunately for him, though, the car somehow happened to lose control and managed to crush Dexter’s right leg. This bizzare accident was enough for Dexter to be ruled out of the 1965-66 Ashes series and ensure that he did not play again for England.

#2 Gautam Gambhir - attending sister\'s marriage

Gambhir skipped a Test for his sister’s marriage

Gautam Gambhir is another cricketer to have missed out on a match due to a strange reason: his sister’s marriage. Moreover, the event took place during what was perhaps the greatest purple patch in his Test career, when he got four hundreds in four back-to-back Tests.

It was the 3rd Test of the 2009 series between India and Sri Lanka, and Gambhir decided to give it a miss as he needed to be present for his sister’s wedding. The reason provided by the southpaw and the fact that it got accepted by the team management drew the ire of quite a few former Indian cricketers.

#3 Jimmy Adams - cut his hand with a butterknife

Jimmy Adams injured himself while using a butterknife

Former West Indies batsman Jimmy Adams managed to miss out on an entire series under bizzare circumstances. While the West Indies team were on board the flight to South Africa for the 1998/99 tour, Adams cut his hand badly in while using a butterknife.

The extent of the injury was so great that it required three stitches on his hand, and forced the southpaw had to sit out of the entire tour.

#4 Chris Lewis - sunstroke

The former England bowler did not play a match due to sunstroke

Former England bowler Chris Lewis had to miss out on a match as he suffered a sunstroke on his team’s tour to West Indies in 1994.

Troubled with the heat in the Caribbean, Lewis decided to sport a bald head and got himself a clean shave. But the mistake that he made was that he stayed outdoors in the blazing sun without a hat on his head, and that too at noon time.

This led to him suffering a sunstroke and Lewis had to pull out of a tour match against the Antigua XI because of it.

#5 Sydney Barnes - wife and child not accompanying

The great Sydney Barnes did not play the Ashes as his wife and child wouldn’t be with him

Legendary England fast bowler Sydney Barnes was approached by the MCC to tour Australia for the 1920-21 Ashes series, even at the age of 47. When he asked the MCC whether they would pay for his wife and child to join him on the tour, they refused to do so.

This forced Barnes to reject the offer that had been made to him and he decided not to play once again. Ironically enough, England suffered their first ever 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Australia on that tour.