Somerset needed just 78 runs to win the county game against Lancashire. Since it was a low-score affair, the winners were already speculated. But South African spinner Keshav Maharaj turned the match upside down, forcing the game to end in a draw.
The incident happened in the County Championship Division 1 match on September 6. Maharaj, who turned out to be wrecker in chief, picked up 7 wickets in the fourth innings. Moreover, he replicated what Somerset's Jack did in the second innings to bundle Lancashire within 170 runs.
Spinning a web around Somerset batsman, he took a total of 11 wickets in the game.
He took the last wicket of Jack Leach who tried to finish off the game with a lofted shot. Luckily for him, the ball landed in the safe hands of Tom Bailey.
Lancashire posted a total of 99 runs in the first innings. Opener Alex Davies remained the top scorer with 20 as the team bundled up in the 40th over. Somerset’s got a lead of 93 runs thereafter. The batsman struggled but managed to post a decent total riding high on Lewis Gregory’s unbeaten quickfire knock of 63.
Coming to the second innings, Lancashire batsmen toiled hard but managed to post 170 runs on the board. Steven Croft starred with his half-century with support from skipper Liam Livingstone from the other end.
Apart from Maharaj, Graham Onion took the rest of the 3 Somerset wickets to restrict them from taking the game home.