Irish batsman Joyce survives bail scare

In one of the most unusual scenes seen on the cricket ground, Ireland batsman Ed Joyce survived being bowled off an Amjad Javed delivery in a World Cup Pool B encounter against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) here Wednesday when the ball hit the stumps leaving the red-lights flashing but failing to dislodge the bails.

Chasing a target of 279, Ireland were 35 for one, when Javed bowled the fourth delivery of the 10th over. Joyce missed the ball which grazed the left-hander's off-stump and the zing bail lit up and got some air. But then it settled back down onto the stump -- so incredibly Joyce remained not out.

The bowler could do nothing but laughed about the incident with his teammates. Joyce was batting on 16 runs then.

Javed, however, got his revenge -- this time again off his fourth delivery -- in the 18th over as Joyce edged the ball to Swapnil Patil on 37.

A similar bail incident took place last year in a Big Bash League (BBL) match between Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder when David Hussey of Stars survived a run-out attempt because the bails stayed put.