5 instances when the bowler broke a batsman's bat

Mahela Jayawardene scored a century with his new bat

During a recent match, Mitchell Starc’s delivery broke Brendon McCullum’s batCricket matches have seen many interesting incidents, be it records being set, on-field controversies or bats being broken. Yes, fiery deliveries from bowlers not only astonished the batsmen by taking their wickets but also by breaking their bats.Recently in one of the Test matches between New Zealand and Australia at WACA cricket ground, pacer Mitchell Starc’s yorker at a speed of 154.8 kph broke Brendon McCullum’s bat. In this match the pacer also bowled his fastest delivery at 160.4 kph.We bring to you five more instances when batsmen were stunned as bowlers broke their bats.

#1 Mahela Jayawardene

In a Group A match against Afghanistan at University Oval, Dunedin, a delivery from Shapoor Zadran broke Mahela Jayawardene’s bat. The Sri Lankan was at 43 and only a gentle push from his bat led to this incident. The new willow proved lucky for Jayawardene as he went on to score his 19th ODI century.

At one point the Lankans were struggling at 18-3, but Jayawardene's 100 runs from 120 balls and a 126-run partnership with Angelo Mathews helped their team win the game. This was Sri Lanka’s first win in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

#2 Javed Miandad

A young fan collected pieces of Miandad’s broken bat as souvenir

In a 1993 match between Pakistan and South Africa, Javed Miandad’s bat broke in half as he tried to hit a ball from Meyrick Pringle. One of the commentators called it an ‘unusual’ incident and correctly so, as it wasn’t a fast ball but a slower from the bowler.

Miandad signaled his dressing room to send the wicketkeeper’s bat while the commentator joked, “I don’t think there would be many volunteers in the dressing room now willing to lend their bats.” A young fan got lucky because of this incident and collected the broken pieces of the bat as a ‘Javed Miandad souvenir’.

#3 Michael Carberry

In Ashes 2014 Michael Carberry’s Kookaburra bat broke owing to a delivery from Ryan Harris

In the fifth Test of Ashes 2014, English opener Michael Carberry tried to play a defensive shot but what followed was a complete surprise for everyone. The delivery from Ryan Harris had Carberry’s Kookaburra bat broken into two pieces. Many compared the incident to England’s poor performance in the series.

Rod Cross, Associate Professor from University of Sydney’s Physics Department, calculated that the force of 12.5 cricketers standing on the bat was roughly equal to that of the delivery. 2014 was the first time when Carberry played the coveted Ashes series. He scored 281 runs at an average of 28.1 in the series.

#4 Lakshmipathy Balaji

Rawalpindi Express’ delivery broke Lakshmipathy Balaji’s bat

India vs Pakistan matches always draw a lot of attention. One such ODI match in 2004 at Lahore got even more interesting than usual as India’s Lakshmipathy Balaji broke his bat while trying to hit a six off a Shoaib Akhtar delivery.

Before the incident Balaji was playing the Rawalpindi Express’s deliveries with ease. He had also hit a six off one of his deliveries for which the latter kept telling him, “I still remember your six, okay? I have to give it back” during Pakistan's return tour of India in 2005.

#5 Vusi Sibanda

Kemar Roach’s delivery not only broke Vusi Sibanda’s bat but picked his wicket as well

In a match during the 2009-10 bilateral ODI series between West Indies and Zimbabwe, pacer Kemar Roach literally broke his opponent’s defense. Zimbabwean batsman Vusi Sibanda, who was going good in the match, tried to block one of Roach’s yorkers. However, the ball did not change its path, and went on to break the batsman’s willow and finally hit the stumps.

This was just another example of how dangerous Roach’s pace can be. It came as a surprise to Sibanda who was at 95 and missed a century.