Day 2 of the Boxing Day test between Australia and South Africa at the MCG will be remembered for players getting down because of different reasons. However, being hit by the spider cam has to be the weirdest thing that happened during the day.
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Mitchell Starc injured himself on day one, and the Australian team suffered a couple of more setbacks during the 2nd day of the match. David Warner was suffering from cramps throughout the day, and he retired after completing his double hundred. After Warner, all-rounder Cameron Green got hit on his gloves and he also left the field.
Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi faced injury issues from the South African team. Ngidi was also suffering from cramps, and he was down the field, whereas Anrich Nortje was hit by the spider cam on the field.
Spider cam hits cricketer
An interesting incident happened during the 2nd day of the Boxing Day test, where South African pacer Anrich Nortje was knocked down by the spider cam. Fox Sports is the official broadcaster of the series in Australia, and their camera only smashed Nortje, and he was on the ground after that.
In the footage, it is clear that Nortje had no idea about the placement of the camera, and the camera was travelling quite fast as well via cables. After the incident, Fox Cricket apologized to Nortje about the same, and the camera was not used for the rest of the match after that.
If Jim Ross commentated Anrich Nortje being smashed by Spidercam pic.twitter.com/qpujB0PW2g
— Ethan (@ethanmeldrum_) December 27, 2022
After the day’s play, Nortje gave an update about his injury where he said that he still is feeling pain in his elbow, but it is okay at the moment. He said that the cameras should not be that low in height as it is quite risky for the players on the ground. Nortje said that he had absolutely no idea where the camera came from.
“I didn’t know what hit me, to be honest,” Nortje said to the reporters.
“So far so good. It just knocked the [left] shoulder and the [left] elbow. The elbow is a bit sore but otherwise seems to be okay. I’ll just monitor it and see how it goes with the [doctor].”