A tied game between two old rivals was decided in ‘strange’ fashion in 2006, with medium pacer Julie Hayes emerging as the hero
“I’ll be last. It’ll be over by then. But little did I know that everybody else was going to miss.”
Julie Hayes thinks back to 18 October 2006. It was a perfect spring day in Brisbane.
The shadows continued to lengthen across Allan Border Field as Karen Rolton’s two off the final ball ensured the first ever women’s T20 international between Australia and New Zealand ended in a tie.
What now? The Super Over hadn’t yet been invented and both sides weren’t content to share the spoils after their 40 overs of effort.
“I just remember there was a sense of confusion,” Australia opening batter Melissa Bulow recalls.
“I think we knew in a tight situation that it would come to a Bowl Off, but even what that (entailed). My concern as a woeful bowler was that they’d have to rotate through the entire team, so I was certainly hoping that it wouldn’t come down for me to win the game for Australia.”
The umpires and the match referee conferred and agreed. The tiebreaker was a Bowl Off.
The concept of the Bowl Off was simple. Taking strong inspiration from football’s penalty shootout, both sides would alternate having one of their bowlers attempt to hit the stumps. All the standard rules applied but there was no batter to protect the wickets. The most hits after five aside would take the victory.
The captains came together for a secondary coin toss to decide who would bowl first, with the Kiwis getting first crack.
“I remember the discussion,” allrounder Lisa Sthalekar says.
“Who’s going to do it? You’ve got to name your bowlers. And there was a decision that we would go seam up, not spin. Seam up, because that’s easier … supposedly.”
And from the Aussies’ first delivery, the scene got even more bizarre.
“Catherine Fitzpatrick grabbed the ball and said, I’ll go first,” Hayes says,
“When Fitzy went and bowled, being a fast bowler, (she’d be) coming off 20-plus steps, (but on this day) she decided to come off two. And it was like she was like she was bowling to a six-year-old in the backyard.
“She rolled her arm over slowly and and she missed by a mile. I remember laughing because it was just weird.
“It just it didn’t look right having the umpires in place, but no batter. It was strange.”
And so continued the trend, as seasoned international stars from both sides of the Tasman missed their balls at the unguarded stumps.
Enter NSW legend and all-format international Hayes, with a chance to win the match with a single delivery.
“I was a medium-pace bowler. I wasn’t quick, I just bowled stump to stump,” Hayes says.
“I wasn’t that worried in the lead-up, but once it got to that point in time, I do remember thinking all weird and wonderful things like, what if I just miss completely? What if I bowl a massive wide? What if I trip over? All of these things at the top of my mark.”
Hear from Hayes, Sthalekar, Bulow and White Ferns Sophie Devine, Sarah Tsukigawa and Nicola Browne as we look back at the only Bowl Off in Australia’s T20I history.
Listen to the full episode ”The Rose Bowl Bowl Off on the player above or by searching for Stories After Stumps on all podcast platforms.
