Jordan Silk retires hurt for Sydney Sixers in a bizarre BBL incident

With one ball remaining and Sydney Sixers needing a couple of runs to win, their Head Coach, Greg Shipperd, one of the most astute personalities on the cricketing sidelines, flagged maniacally for the injured Jordan Silk to retire. Ideally, on the scorecard, it would be shown as retired out but the timing of the move was overwhelmingly perfect.

The move was followed by their assistant coach, Jay Lenton, a late and bizarre addition to the side after their first choice wicket-keeper, Josh Philippe tested positive for Covid, coming out to bat who could run with Hayden Kerr if the need arises to seal the fate of the game.

Silk, who had pulled his hamstring earlier in the game, had come out to bat three balls prior with the Sixers hoping that he can smoke something to the ropes on the shorter sides. He managed to rotate the strike that allowed Kerr to whack a maximum that was followed by a couple where Silk could only run the second using his bat as a crutch. 

Sydney Sixers however ensured that they had all their chinks covered by recalling Silk and replacing him with a much more able runner in Jay Lenton.

The Strikers captain, Peter Siddle seemed to be least impressed as he told Fox News, “You can retire blokes, at the end of the day you can retire, it's not actually a big issue. As soon as I brought it up with the umpires, obviously, I was disappointed at the time, but it's just a retirement…sometimes it happens at crucial times. It's just part of the game.”

Sixers skipper, Moises Henriques also opened up about the entire incident, as he remarked, “We sent him in at No. 8 to try to get a couple of boundaries in that last over. As soon as he wasn't able to face a ball and we needed a person to run, we knew he couldn't run so we just thought we'd retire him and put out someone who can.”

Asked if the move went against the Spirit of cricket, Henriques refuted saying, “I don't understand how so. They're clearly within the rules of the game. Unfortunately, we had a guy go down with a hamstring, one of the fittest guys in the league, probably something to do with our schedule, five flights in eight days and so many back-to-back games."