The 'wardrobe malfunction' Sixers overcame to reach BBL final
One of the batters involved in the great player substitute controversy has revealed he thought he'd made a wardrobe blunder as he walked to the middle for the final ball of the Sixers-Strikers BBL classic at the SCG.
Jay Lenton strode to the non-striker's end for the final ball of the game after the Sixers contentiously retired injured star Jordan Silk, who was suffering a hamstring injury and unlikely to make the distance for the two quick runs needed for victory.
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In those frantic moments, Lenton momentarily castigated himself for wearing too much gear.
With opener Hayden Kerr on strike and one ball remaining, there was little chance of Lenton facing a ball.
The only possibility was if Kerr had been run out chasing a single from a no ball or wide.
Highly unlikely.
Yet Lenton went out there with pads, helmet, gloves, box and thigh pad – the whole package.
"I did get out there and think 'geez, I'm wearing a lot of gear for someone who's got to run a fast two'," Lenton told Yahoo Sport Australia.
"It was all a bit frantic because we hadn’t really pre-planned anything with the Silky situation.
"I would have felt a bit weird if I didn’t have any gear on, so I was fine with it.
"It was more out of habit than anything that I put all the gear on and it all worked out in the end.
"It was great theatre."
No argument there.
Sydney Sixers win through to BBL final in a thriller
Kerr smashed the last ball to deep mid-wicket as the batsmen sprinted through for the two runs required before a Jono Wells misfield resulted in the ball reaching the rope.
It's put the Sixers into Friday night's final against arch-rival Perth Scorchers
There is nothing in the laws of cricket demanding a batter wear protective gear and Lenton could have gone out there in his Sixers uniform and bat.
But that would have just added more petrol to the fire, as Fox Sports commentators and ex-Australian stars Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist were already expressing their reservations about the Silk-Lenton swap.
They felt it was pushing the spirit of cricket boundaries, even though the Sixers were entitled to sub Silk out under the laws of the game.
Lenton, the Sixers assistant coach who was drafted into the game as a late replacement for the Covid-hit defending champions, now becomes one of cricket's great trivia questions.
He's the bloke at the other end in one of the BBL's great moments.
"It's the best nought not out I've ever seen," he laughed.
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