England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler recorded his first-ever stumping in Test cricket after dislodging the bails of Dilruwan Perera, Sri Lanka’s spin bowling all-rounder in the first Test of the ongoing two-match Test series between islanders and Joe Root’s men at Galle.
The stumping was off a delivery of Jake Leach which went past the bat and caused the fielding team to appeal for a ‘caught behind’. However, while appealing, Butler had a shy at the wicket and appealed for stumping once the catch appeal was turned down. Kumar Dharmasena, the on-field umpire referred it upstairs to Lyndon Hannibal. After a long look at the stumping, without conclusive evidence, Hannibal was heard saying, “The boot seems to be on the line, there is nothing over it, load ‘out’ on the big screen”.
While the commentators debated over the decision, both Perera and Sri Lankan coach Mickey Arthur were visibly disgusted with the decision. With the dismissal, Buttler is the only wicket-keeper in the entire world who has played more than 40 Tests and has only one stumping to his name.
In the context of the game, it was a very important wicket given the fact that it was the last recognised pair that could handle the bat and the Sri Lankan team has gotten a handy lead of 66 runs. With the wicket turning and spinning the way it has been and with chances of rain on the fifth day, the wicket was extremely important for the hosts. Perera, 38, scored 24 and at the time of writing this news, the Lankan team had got all out for 359 and set a fourth inning target of 74 runs for England to chase.
Powered by Froala Editor
Powered by Froala Editor