With six needed to win off the last ball, New Zealand’s Trent Boult cleared the boundary to guide his team Northern Districts to a sensational win against Canterbury Kings during a SuperSmash T20 match. Chasing 108 to win, ND were reduced to 98/6 but they managed to take the match right down to the wire.
Left-arm quick Ed Nuttall bowling the last over, dug the ball short, and Boult, who was only facing his second ball, used the long handle to perfection and boulted the ball into the crowd, triggering euphoria in the ND change room.
In a low-scoring thriller, only Henry Nicholls and Katene Clarke managed to put up a substantial score while the rest of the batters faltered. In a match where 12 bowlers were used, only two – one from each team – returned wicketless.
After his batting heroics won his team the match, Boult said: “I said I didn’t want to bat, but obviously a great game. Came down to the wire and great to see the crowd turning tonight, and I’m glad we crossed the line. I am not going to give you any coaching or lessons of sort. It was a simple equation so I am happy it came off. We hung in there and got the job done.”
{{/usCountry}}After his batting heroics won his team the match, Boult said: “I said I didn’t want to bat, but obviously a great game. Came down to the wire and great to see the crowd turning tonight, and I’m glad we crossed the line. I am not going to give you any coaching or lessons of sort. It was a simple equation so I am happy it came off. We hung in there and got the job done.”
{{/usCountry}}Watching Boult hit a six off the final ball, his New Zealand team-mate Jimmy Neesham took to Twitter and wrote: "This might be the most bizarre game of cricket I've ever seen".
He later added a two-word tweet which perfectly sums up the thought of the entire Northern Brave team: "Hahahahahahaha Boulty"
The win lifted the Northern Districts to the top of the table with 14 points from 5 matches, while Canterbury were placed at 3.