Watch: Substitute fielder Rehan Ahmed pulled off a ridiculous save at the square leg boundary towards the end of Australia’s second innings today (July 01) at Lord’s, forcing an injured Nathan Lyon to hop through for a single.
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An injured Lyon hobbled out to bat at No.11 to a standing ovation from the Lord’s crowd. With a lead of 355 at the fall of the ninth wicket, Australia didn’t feel secure enough and wanted to eke out a few more from their last pair of Lyon and Mitchell Starc.
England seamers who had been bowling short all day and had reaped the rewards for it, continued with their approach as both Starc and Lyon swung at almost everything on offer in a bid to hit a few boundaries and take the lead as close to 400 as possible.
On the last ball of the 98th over of the innings, Stuart Broad bowled a bumper at Starc from round the wicket which Starc pulled high into the air towards square leg.
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Rehan, who was fielding as a substitute, had to wait on the edge of the boundary for a long time for the ball to arrive. When it did, it went just over him and looked like would go for six.
Ahmed, however, leapt backwards, caught the ball, and flung it back in towards the deep fine leg fielder, all while being airborne.
Starc and Lyon had assumed that the ball would go over the boundary. When they realized that it hadn’t, and that the fine leg fielder was about to fire in a throw with both batters mid-pitch, they started to run. Lyon, however, was in severe pain and somehow managed to hop across towards the crease and got in just in time.
He needed a few minutes to recover from the pain of having to run with a severely strained calf. Lyon managed to hit one boundary after that, much to the joy of the Australian dressing room and was finally dismissed for four off 13 balls.
The last wicket partnership added 15 crucial runs for Australia and took the lead to 370, giving England a target of 371 to chase.
Watch Rehan Ahmed’s incredible six save that had Lyon hobbling across for a single in pain:
Rehan Ahmed that is just ridiculous 😆👏 #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/NaxtuUD7X7
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 1, 2023
