A cricketing man made a play… all while losing his prosthetic leg in the process. And damn if it wasn’t incredible to watch.
Sunday Morning Motivation from @LMThomas7 #noexcuses #incredible pic.twitter.com/Ms29nni9EX
— Sharp Focus (@sharpfocus_tv) October 30, 2016
The match here was between a squad of disabled Englishmen against a team from Pakistan. When one of the Pakistani hitters slapped the pitch to his left, our hero, Liam Thomas, was ready to field it. Unfortunately, his leg was not and it popped off as he made a running dive to grab the ball. Undeterred by losing one of his appendages, Thomas simply hopped over to the ball as quickly as he could before throwing it in.
I have no idea if Thomas succeeded in getting the Pakistani player “out,” or if the concept of outs even applies to cricket, but I do know that this was an impressive athletic feat no matter the end result. Even better, Thomas played this whole losing-a-leg-in-the-middle-of-play thing pretty nonchalantly in the postgame interview.
“It just happened, really. I was sprinting for the ball, put my hand out, hit the deck hard and the next thing I know I stood up and had no leg,” Thomas said. “I didn’t know whether to grab the leg or get the ball in. I decided to go for the ball.”
“It just happened, really” is not the first phrase that comes to mind when I contemplate suddenly standing up and discovering I have no right leg, but that’s why I’m at home typing this and Thomas is competing on the global circuit in Dubai.
For the record, Thomas blames the high temps in the city for causing the prosthesis to expand and pop out of place.
[CNN]
