Hampshire Hawks' speedster Chris Wood displayed a brilliant act of sportsman spirit during his side's clash against Kent on Sunday at The Rose Bowl in Southampton. Wood chose to not run out non-striker Matt Parkinson when he had a great chance to do so during the first innings of the clash.
The incident occurred during the final over of the first innings when Wood was bowling. He got the wicket of Xavier Bartlett on the second ball of the over and then Matthew Parkinson joined Joey Evison in the middle. The players exchanged strike on the third ball before a double on the next one. The heartwarming gesture took place on the fifth ball of the over.
Charging from over the wicket, the left-arm seamer delivered a fuller one to Evison, who hit a powerful straight drive. But the non-striker Parkinson, who was in his run-up when the shot was played, came in the firing line of the ball. Evison's drive hit Parkinson and the non-striker fell onto the ground in pain. After hitting him, the ball ricocheted to the bowler Wood, who had all the time in the world to affect a run-out but decided against it as he walked back to his run-up without breaking the stumps.
The gesture left the netizens in awe with many people sharing the video on social media. The post went viral on X as the users hailed Wood's act of sportsmanship.
Watch the Video here:
Kent went on to make 165/9 in their 20 overs powered by a 42 from D Bell-Drummond and a 43-run knock from Sam Billings. Wood had a good day with the ball as he ended his four overs with figures of 2/19. He was the pick of the bowlers as he was the most economical one too.
Hampshire went on to chase down the target in the final over Liam Dawson hitting the winning runs. The chase was set up by captain James Vince, Joe Weatherley and James Fuller, who scored 35, 49 and 30 runs, respectively.
