SL vs AUS | Twitter in disbelief as sticky bails make shocked Mathew survive ball thumping into stumps

Sri Lanka were left reeling at 30/3 on Day 2 of the first Test against Australia in pursuit of a mammoth first innings total of 654/6d courtesy of an Usman Khawaja double century as well as tons from Steve Smith and Josh Inglis. The hosts lost openers Oshada Fernando and Dimuth Karunaratne in quick succession before their most experienced batter Angelo Mathews succumbed to Nathan Lyon with half an hour to go for Stumps. However, the veteran could have departed even earlier in his 18-ball stay for nine runs were it not for a miracle from Lady Fortune to save Mathews the blushes.

On the second ball of the eighth over, Lyon went around the stumps to pitch a back of a length delivery on leg stump that instead of going with the angle spun back into Mathews. The batter, having initially taken a step forward, remained in his crease and relied on hand-eye co-ordination instead of his footwork to clip the ball from his things. However, the Kookaburra beat his inside edge and thumped into the leg to bounce on the crease before turning sharply to nutmeg Mathews and head towards the wickets. By the time the veteran realized what was going on, the red cherry had already struck middle stump with some force but much to Mathews' shock, the bails remained intact. The 37-year-old immediately put his hand to his head in disbelief, with Alex Carey's animated reaction indicating the bails had infact not come off only added to the awe of the occasion.

Nevertheless, Mathews failed to make the most of his second life but Twitterati was amused by the incident all the same.

Saved

Where are they

Incredibe

Brilliant

Wow

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Doin well

Bumrah show

Covers off

Really