Watch: Daryl Mitchell's six lands inside a pint of beer; England claims it lessened the swing
The lady holding the pint had the shock of her life as the stroke from Daryl Mitchell split the beer all over.Â
An amusing incident came to light on Day 1 of the second Test at Trent Bridge as New Zealand allrounder Daryl Mitchell ended up landing a ball inside a spectator's pint of beer in the stands. A lady, who held the pint in her hands, had the shock of her life when the ball crashed into the beer and spilt it all over.
This spectator was sitting a few rows behind the long-on region when Mitchell timed one of his attempted strokes to perfection and smashed Jack Leach for a six.
As the ball sailed in the air, the members of the crowd sitting behind the hoardings stood up in anticipation of it reaching them. The lady, whose pint the ball eventually landed inside, though, stayed put in her seat and was almost caught napping when the dramatic scenes unveiled.
The lady was in visible pain, with the pint of the beer placed peerlessly close to her right shoulder when the shot from Daryl Mitchell reached her.
England accuse beer incident for dampening swing; Daryl Mitchell & co console the spectator
As England struggled to build inroads into the New Zealand batting line-up after opting to bowl first on winning the toss, the frustration began to kick in within the home team camp. Bowling coach Jon Lewis claimed that the incident where the ball went inside the pint of beer made matters worse for his team, as it reduced the amount of swing on offer.
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"I’ve just come back from the dressing room and haven’t spoke to the boys about it," Lewis was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz, as Daryl Mitchell followed his hundred in the previous Test with an unbeaten 81 in the visitors' tally of 318/4 by the close of play.
"It did swing a little bit less, but it’s just that the ball was really soft, so when the ball goes soft it’s hard to get it past the bat with any pace," he added.
The perennial good boys of world cricket, Daryl Mitchell & company later identified the spectator whose pit had been split all over and gave the lady named Susan another pint as a beautiful mark of apology and remembrance.
Susan - the lady earlier who Daryl Mitchell’s pint hit - has been given a replacement by the Kiwi team 👏👏👏#ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/53ig2R5cML
— England’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) June 10, 2022
Speaking of the entire episode, Mitchell's teammate and Kiwi opening batter Devon Conway said they were "quite shocked" that the umpires didn't change the ball after it had been softened by the beer. He later joked about it, too, saying Mitchell played it "smart" by doing something that benefitted him and the team.