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Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Durban - The unlikely alliance of International sportsmen Conrad Jantjes, the Western Province rugby fullback, and Indian superstar batsman Rahul Dravid have fallen foul of respective shoelace hazards this weekend.
Television close-ups, in each instance, have been able to reveal the unfortunate drawbacks suffered on this quirky front by the players concerned.
On Saturday Dravid, one of India’s best hopes of a miracle fight-back for a draw in the one-sided third cricket Test against England at Edgbaston, was given out caught behind off James Anderson in his second innings for 18.
Microphones clearly picked up a sound - understandably presumed to be an edge to gleeful wicketkeeper Matt Prior - and umpire Simon Taufel quickly raised the finger.
The batsman was clearly a little bemused and even asked partner Sachin Tendulkar whether it was worth seeking a review: Tendulkar suggested there was little point as he, too, had clearly been deceived by the sound.
But as Dravid departed, replays strongly indicated that the flapping aglet (the little ‘sheath’ at the end of a shoelace) of the batsman’s left boot had, in fact, flicked the bat, causing the nick-like sound - HotSpot pertinently could not prove that the ball had taken the bat’s edge.
Perhaps a little less expensively to his own team’s cause in the Absa Currie Cup match against the Sharks on Friday night, Jantjes experienced a lace-related mishap of his own as he tripped a little comically over his own feet after collecting a high ball, tumbling forward to concede a knock-on.
Again, a glance at TV replays showed the real reason for the Springbok’s embarrassment: the looped part of one of his bootlaces had got entangled on the stud of his other boot.
Province lost by a whisker (21-19) in the abysmal conditions, with Freddie Michalak’s 77th-minute penalty tilting the scales.
Who knows whether the second-half shoelace incident may have made a difference to the outcome?
Perhaps these were simply fresh cases for considering Velcro fastening above laces in sporting footwear ...
Durban - The unlikely alliance of International sportsmen Conrad Jantjes, the Western Province rugby fullback, and Indian superstar batsman Rahul Dravid have fallen foul of respective shoelace hazards this weekend.
Television close-ups, in each instance, have been able to reveal the unfortunate drawbacks suffered on this quirky front by the players concerned.
On Saturday Dravid, one of India’s best hopes of a miracle fight-back for a draw in the one-sided third cricket Test against England at Edgbaston, was given out caught behind off James Anderson in his second innings for 18.
Microphones clearly picked up a sound - understandably presumed to be an edge to gleeful wicketkeeper Matt Prior - and umpire Simon Taufel quickly raised the finger.
The batsman was clearly a little bemused and even asked partner Sachin Tendulkar whether it was worth seeking a review: Tendulkar suggested there was little point as he, too, had clearly been deceived by the sound.
But as Dravid departed, replays strongly indicated that the flapping aglet (the little ‘sheath’ at the end of a shoelace) of the batsman’s left boot had, in fact, flicked the bat, causing the nick-like sound - HotSpot pertinently could not prove that the ball had taken the bat’s edge.
Perhaps a little less expensively to his own team’s cause in the Absa Currie Cup match against the Sharks on Friday night, Jantjes experienced a lace-related mishap of his own as he tripped a little comically over his own feet after collecting a high ball, tumbling forward to concede a knock-on.
Again, a glance at TV replays showed the real reason for the Springbok’s embarrassment: the looped part of one of his bootlaces had got entangled on the stud of his other boot.
Province lost by a whisker (21-19) in the abysmal conditions, with Freddie Michalak’s 77th-minute penalty tilting the scales.
Who knows whether the second-half shoelace incident may have made a difference to the outcome?
Perhaps these were simply fresh cases for considering Velcro fastening above laces in sporting footwear ...
