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Getting out is never a happy feeling in cricket and it strikes differently if the player gets out in a bizarre incident. One of the rarest dismissals in cricket is getting out because of ball handling. In ODIs, only three cricketers have gotten out in this fashion so far, including the former Indian star Mohinder Amarnath in 1985.
South African batter Daryll Cullinan became the only second cricketer to get out handling the ball against West Indies on this day (January 27) in 1999. The incident happened during the third ODI match at Kingsmead in Durban. While batting first, Cullinan gave South Africa a good start with a 49-run opening partnership with Herschelle Gibbs and a 69-run partnership with Lance Klusener for the second wicket.
Cullinan looked steady with his shot selection as he approached the game with the defense after Gibbs’ departure. He seemed destined for a big knock as he scored 46 off 63 with the help of two fours. But in the innings’ 27th over, he got out in an unexpected way on Keith Arthurton’s delivery.
The Proteas star tried to defend the ball but caught the bottom edge. The ball initially hit the ground near the player’s leg but bounced off towards the stump, that’s what Cullinan thought at the moment. To prevent the ball from hitting the stump, Cullinan stopped the ball with a hand and passed it back to Arthurton. It was clearly a natural instinct call from the batter but handling a ball is against the cricket laws.
On-field umpires gave it out upon an appeal from West Indies captain Brian Lara and Cullinan walked off the pitch in disappointment. But his team won the game by 55 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the seven-match series at home. In a third and final similar incident in ODIs, Zimbabwe’s Chamu Chibhabha got dismissed for handling a ball during a match against Afghanistan in 2015.
