Southern Brave were denied a late breakthrough in The Hundred final after Lauren Bell lit up the zing bails to bowl Annabel Sutherland, without removing the bails from their grooves.
Having gone gone unbeaten in the group stage of the competition, Southern Brave were sliding towards a defeat in the final at Lord's today (August 31). With 19 needed off the final 25 balls to win, and the Australia pair of Sutherland and Nicola Carey well set at the crease, Bell was brought on to bowl her final five.
With the last ball of her set, she nipped the ball back in to Sutherland and beat her inside edge. Both Rhianna Southby behind the stumps and Bell immediately went up in appeal, hearing a noise between the ball passing the bat and and it settling in Southby's glove. Both umpires, however, remained unmoved. Bell gestured towards the stumps and put her hand over her face in disbelief, with Sutherland also standing open-mouthed still in her stance.
OH NO! 😳
— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 31, 2025
Lauren Bell hits the stumps, but the bails stay on, meaning Annabel Sutherland is NOT OUT! ❌#TheHundredFinal pic.twitter.com/lzecZFH9bg
Replays showed the ball hitting the top of the off stump bail on its way through, with the zing bails lighting up as they were disturbed by the balls, before settling back down in their grooves. Sutherland went on to hit the winning runs with a six off Georgia Adams.
Zing bails light up but stay on – what do the laws say?
Zing bails have been the source of controversy previously. During this year's WPL, the competition organisers released a clarification to the teams after a series of contentious run outs in a match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians. In that case, the moment at which the wicket was deemed to be broken was deemed in the original playing conditions as "the first frame in which the Zing lights are illuminated and subsequent frames show the bail permanently removed from the top of the stumps". That was changed, however, to when the bails are fully dislodged, after the zing bails were found to be lighting up before they were fully dislodged.
The Hundred playing conditions defer to the MCC Law on breaking the wicket, which doesn't factor in Zing bails. Law 29.1 says: "The wicket is broken when at least one bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps."
Law 29.2.2 goes on to say: "The disturbance of a bail, whether temporary or not, shall not constitute its complete removal from the top of the stumps."
Thus, despite the ball from Bell lighting up the off-stump Zing bail, it was not completely removed from the top of the stumps, and thus was deemed not out.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
