Brad Hodge must have taken tips from the Chappell brothers.
The Yahoo!Xtra Northern Knights' Australian import bowled underarm for the final delivery of last night's inaugural Hood St cricket match to give his new team a narrow win over a Waikato Times Invitational XI.
Hodge's last-ball tactic harked back to the famous 1981 Melbourne incident in an Australia-New Zealand one-dayer.
Last night's game saw Hood St blocked off, with the match played under loose rules similar to backyard cricket.
The Waikato Times XI wasn't short on athletic talent or height, featuring netballers Casey Williams and Laura Langman, All Black Richard Kahui, javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar and Hamilton East MP David Bennett.
Knights captain James Marshall who won the toss and chose to bat first on a remarkably flat artificial rollout pitch was impressed by the talent in the opposition, particularly the bowling technique of the two Silver Ferns.
Mr Bennett took a scorching catch, diving low to his left but remarkably avoiding skinning his knees on the Hood St asphalt.
The Waikato Times Invitational XI reply to the Knights' score of 15 got off to a poor start, with Williams bowled first ball, and their 11 runs weren't enough. Marshall admitted Hodge's dodgy underarm delivery was his call: "I asked Brad to bowl underarm, and in good Aussie fashion he did that."
Last night's match launched the Knights' Twenty20 campaign. It begins today at 6pm at Seddon Park against the Central Stags.
(Article courtesy of Jeff Neems and the Waikato Times)
