With no fans in attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground, New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson had to cross the boundary and enter the stands in order to look for the ball after Aaron Finch hit a monstrous six. It seems as if having no fans at the stadium makes the jobs of fielders a tad-bit more hard.
As the coronavirus panic rises, Cricket Australia has disallowed the public from attending the ongoing three-match ODI series against New Zealand. The groundbreaking decision did not only mean a quiet stadium but also saw the players doing some unplanned chores.
In the 19th over of Australia’s innings, Aaron Finch smashed a huge six off Ish Sodhi. With no fans in the stands, New Zealand speedster Lockie Ferguson jumped over the boundary and into the stands in order to find the ball. He took a little time to finally locate ball before jetting it off onto the field. Cricket Australia later posted a clip of the comical incident on their official Twitter handle.
Good arm, Lockie! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/xY7QtF5UGf
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 13, 2020
In the same, Aussie opener David Warner almost forgot to celebrate his 100 as there was no one at the SCG to applaud his effort. However, his teammates soon started clapping from the stands and the flamboyant opener realised soon raised his bat.
Australia scored 258 for 7 in the first innings, with Warner and Finch scoring fifties. The due added 124 runs for the opening wicket before New Zealand came back brilliantly into the game. Marnus Labuschagne played a great cameo and stretched Australia to a decent total with a handy fifty.
Australia were on a five-match losing streak in the 50-over format and the home side were desperate to get back to winning ways. New Zealand, on the other hand, recently clean-sweeped India in a 3-match ODI series before touring Australia.
However, their recent forms seemed to play little to no part in the outcome of the game, with the homeside dominating the kiwis. Pat Cummins and Mitchel Marsh picked up 3 wickets each to guarantee an emphatic 71-run win in the 1st ODI.
