Watch: David Warner hit on the box by bails after bowled dismissal

David Warner had a rare moment of embarrassment behind the stumps in the leg slip region to spin bowling in the third innings of the Galle Test on Friday (July 1). 

The experienced Australian left-hander was left in pain by a delivery from part-time spinner Travis Head as a bail placed on top of the middle and leg-stump ended up hitting him in the unmentionables. 

An off-break from Head turned ever so sharply and bounced venomously past the forward defensive push from Sri Lankan lower-order batter Lasith Embuldeniya. 

The ball sneaked through the gap between the pad and the bat and went on to flick the bail adjoining the two stumps, which then rotated in the air and bumped onto David Warner’s box while he was still in motion, anticipating a catch coming in his direction. 

Travis Head’s off-spin brilliance proves painful for David Warner 

The incident happened near the close of the Sri Lankan third-innings in Galle, with Embuldeniya and his partner Asitha Fernando trying to keep the rampaging Australians at bay for the last wicket. 

Facing Head, who had picked up an unexpected three-fer till then, from over-the-wicket angle, Embuldeniya tried to keep the sharp off-break from him out with a defensive prod. But the batter was done in by the angle of the delivery, as it evaded his downswing and sneaked through the gap between the pad and the bat. 

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The ball went on to brush the leg bail and flicked and rotated towards David Warner, placed at leg slip. It jammed onto the unmentionables of the experienced cricketer and left him in visible pain for a brief. 

Watch the bail 🤕 #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/lBK93UnvqY

— Hemant (@hemantbuch) July 1, 2022

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Head of cricket production for the series, Hemant Buch, shared a funny clip of the incident where someone from the back could be heard saying “watch for the bail”, as it flicked and jammed onto Warner’s box and left him with a grimace. 

In the clip, one can see how Warner was entirely focused on taking the catch and didn’t have any idea that one of the bails adjoining the three stumps is about to hit him where it hurts the most.