Chris Wood, on Sunday, once again proved why cricket is called the gentleman’s game by displaying remarkable sportsmanship during the game between Hampshire and Kent in the ongoing T20 Blast 2024.
The Hampshire fast bowler decided not to wear down Matt Parkinson even though he was well within his rights to do so. The incident took place at the end of Kent’s innings when Parkinson was standing at the non-striker’s end.
In the penultimate delivery of the over, Chris Wood bowled a full delivery which Joey Evison hit hard towards Parkinson. He was a thoroughbred Evison pilot and Parkinson was unable to get out of the line of fire in time. He had already left the crease before being knocked down by the impact of the shot.
After hitting Parkinson, the ball deflected towards Wood, who collected it in the middle of the field. The left-arm pacer had all the time in the world to pull out Parkinson, who was lying outside the crease.
However, Chris Wood was brilliant in defending the “spirit of cricket” and decided not to take undue advantage of Parkinson’s condition. Fortunately, Parkinson did not suffer any serious injury and quickly got up before returning to the crease for the last ball of the innings. Then the leg-spinner also bowled his full quota of four overs.
Look at Chris Wood’s brilliant gesture:
Impeccable sportsmanship 👏
Matt Parkinson is hit by the ball and Chris Wood decides not to throw him out 🫡 pic.twitter.com/RijvNEpqWi
– Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 2, 2024
Talking about the game, Hampshire beat Kent by three wickets. Kent, who batted first, finished their innings with 165 for 9 and captain Sam Billings (43) and Daniel Bell-Drummond (42) made useful contributions with the bat. For Hampshire, Chris Wood was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2 wickets for just 19 runs in his four overs.
With the bat, Hampshire chased down the total with one ball remaining and three wickets in hand. Joe Weatherley was Hampshire’s top scorer, scoring 49 runs off 32 balls. James Fuller also played a crucial 16-ball, 30-run knock towards the end of the innings.