New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson has made an unbeatable record in the T20 World Cup. The Kiwi quick bowler did something that no one else has ever done in the tournament’s history during his team’s match against PNG on June 17 in the 2024 World Cup held in the USA and West Indies.
Ferguson is the first bowler in T20 World Cup history to bowl all four of his allotted overs without allowing any runs in a match. He accomplished this amazing feat in his team’s final game of the tournament against PNG at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad.
The PNG batters couldn’t hit Ferguson’s bowling. The right-handed fast bowler also took three wickets in his perfect spell. He got rid of PNG’s captain, Assad Vala, for 6 runs off 16 balls, and then took the wickets of Charles Amini and Chad Soper in his next two overs.
In T20 World Cups, Ferguson is the first player to bowl four overs without giving away any runs. However, he isn’t the first to achieve this in T20 international cricket. Before him, Saad Bin Zafar, who is now the captain of Canada, was the first to bowl four maiden overs in a T20 international match.
Ferguson started bowling in the 5th over when Papua New Guinea’s team had scored 14 runs with one wicket down. Tim Southee took the first wicket. When Ferguson came to bowl, he took a wicket on his very first ball by getting Assad caught in the slips by Daryl Mitchell.
In the next two rounds of bowling, Ferguson switched between different line and lengths going over and around the wicket. His second round without giving away any runs kept the Oceania team at 16/2 after 7 overs. Then, in the 12th over, Ferguson took a wicket on the second ball, getting Amini out by trapping him with the ball on the pads and it was judged as LBW. The fast bowler continued to bowl aggressively and got another player, Soper, out in his last over.
Only two runs were scored from his bowling, but they were leg byes, which don’t count towards the bowler’s score. The 33-year-old finished his spell with the last ball of the game, a well-placed ball that made Kiplin Dorgia hurry.
