Adam Zampa attempts cheeky runout in BBL, cricket world divided over incident

Australian cricketer Adam Zampa became the talking point for the cricket world on Tuesday after his cheeky runout attempt in the Big Bash League, which was turned down by the umpire. The strange moment was witnessed during the Melbourne Stars vs Melbourne Renegades, BBL 2022-23 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday. Bowling the fifth ball of the final over of the first innings, Zampa stopped midway through his run-up on noticing non-striker Tom Rogers out of the crease and decided to remove the bails.

While it seemed like Zampa had successfully run the non-striker out for gaining a few yards by walking out of his crease, the on-field umpire went upstairs and the decision was given in Rogers’ favour. As the events unfolded, Zampa’s runout attempt became a hot topic of discussion as it received reactions from many big names in the cricketing fraternity.

Former cricketers Brett Lee, David Hussey, Brad Haddin and Brad Hodge weighed in their thoughts in favour of the umpire’s decision, while Cal Ferguson spoke for Zampa.

"Don’t like the Mankad rule whatsoever"

As revealed by BBL on social media, speaking on Fox Sports, the pace stalwart Brett Lee said, “Listen, I don’t like that rule, I don’t like the Mankad rule whatsoever. I don’t like seeing that in the game of cricket”. At the same time, Hussey said, “If it had’ve been given out, we would have withdrawn out appeal anyway. It’s not the right way to play cricket..yet!”.

Meanwhile, Haddin revealed his views and said, “I reckon Zampa was dirty from the ball before when Rogers got in and out and got Harvey on strike”. Shedding his views, Hodge added, “Regardless of the laws, I don’t like it at all… I didn’t think Rogers was trying to get an advantage”. On the other hand, Ferguson said, “I’m with you Hudgey, I don’t like the law. But it’s fair game in my eyes, whether I like it or not”.

Here's what Adam Zampa and Tom Rogers had to say about the runout attempt

Zampa also revealed his views on the runout attempt at the non-striker’s end and said he is a very competitive guy. “I saw red the ball before when Mackenzie Harvey had just hit the ball it felt like he (Rogers) was three meters away from Mackenzie,” he added. Rogers in the meantime said, “Obviously there was a bit of spice.. Probably different to the way I’d go about things”.