A never-before-seen sight in cricket is being seen at the currently ongoing Caribbean Premier League match between Guyana Amazon Warriors and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, where Patriots opener Lendl Simmons is going about his business with only one pad on. He forsook the services of one of his pads after the 12th over, going on to bat the last 8 overs of the match in this unusual avatar.
Incidentally, he was also the highest scorer of his team, being run out on 50 in the last over of a very low scoring first innings. However, his 60-ball 50 is also the slowest known T20 half-century ever witnessed.
The Warriors have been set a target of 109 and are expected to chase it down without much worry. Chris Lynn has been in fantastic form for them, and Martin Guptill at the top of the order, as ever, is a volcano waiting to explode.
Adam Zampa was the star with the ball for the Warriors, with figures of 3/18, but the biggest talking point of the match has been Simmons’ inscrutable decision to drop one pad. As the 13th over started, Simmons was seen only with his left pad on. Stadium audiences did not know what to make of it, and TV audiences were equally dumbfounded.
Did Simmons do it to be able to be more mobile? Was it just a fashion statement? For now, a guess is all that can be made.
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