WATCH: Mark Watt's Double Wicket Maiden Over During T20 Blast
Every ball is an event in the T20 format. For the batting team, every ball that didn't go for a boundary is one ball missed, and playing a dot ball is a win for the bowling team. While the batting team tries to maximise every ball, the bowling team just wants to bowl as many dots as possible.
The opener's job is very crucial at the top of the inning because those playing in the powerplay are selected to due to their skill to not only play the new ball but also smack it and utilise the fielding restrictions.
Bowling in this phase is quite tricky and bowling a spinner is always a risk. However, Derbyshire took the risk of bowling Mark Watt inside the powerplay during their match against Yorkshire in the T20 Blast and it turned out to be a jackpot.
Watt, a left-arm spinner, was introduced to bowl against left-hand batter Adam Lyth. It was a gamble since left-arm spinners aren't always comfortable bowling to the left-hand batters but it worked wonders as Lyth took the bait on the first ball itself, swung his bat hard but missed the ball, and got bowled.
Right-hand batter Tom Kohler-Cadmore came to the crease to bat at number three. Watt bowled a disciplined line and length Cadmore couldn't get any run on the first three balls faced. On the fifth ball of the over, Cadmore swung the bat hard and missed the ball as Watt's delivery once again crashed onto the stumps.
Harry Brook faced the last ball of the over but couldn't score a run as Watt finished the third over of the inning with a double-wicket maiden.
Also Read: Scorecard
Mark Watt finished the inning with three wickets in his four overs while giving away 29 runs as Yorkshire scored 175 runs. Derbyshire went on to win the match by six wickets.