‘Simply shouldn’t happen’: Jess Jonassen not out after being clean bowled

Australian spinner Jess Jonassen will have to go buy a lottery ticket after she was clean bowled but remained not out.

Brisbane Heat spinner Jess Jonassen has ridden her luck to help her WBBL team book its place in the tournament finals.

In a match against the Sydney Thunder with the winner booking its place in the finals, a late eight-ball 18 from Georgia Voll lifted the Heat to 8/160 after losing regular wickets throughout.

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The Thunder started quickly in the chase, losing its first wicket in the seventh over with the score on 54 but the wickets fell in clumps as the side stumbled to 9/138 and a 22-run loss.

It mean the final match day on Sunday — a double header at the SCG — will finally decide the finalists, with the Hobart Hurricanes potentially able to leapfrog the Thunder depending on results.

But it was a match for Jonassen with the Australian veteran winning player of the match after taking 4/26.

However, she also raised eyebrows after scoring an eventful nine-ball 9.

With the second ball of the 19th over, Jonassen appeared to have been clean bowled by Chamari Athapaththu as the ball cannoned into the stumps.

That has smashed into the stumps. Photo: Fox Sports

But the bails stayed on the stumps.

Commentator Alistair Nicholson was convinced it was out.

“Bowled... what was that sound?” Nicholson said.

Lisa Sthalekar said: “No, it did hit the stumps.”

“If that has hit the stumps and not dislodged the bails, those bails are made of lead,” Nicholson replied, before seeing a fresh replay.

“Oh, come on. Come off it. Brisbane Heat, check their cricket bags for super glue.”

The commentators went down to the miked up Thunder wicketkeeper Tahlia Wilson who laughed off the situation.

Asked how the bail didn’t come off, Wilson said: “I don’t know.

“I actually just said to JJ about it and she said the stump did get hit,” Wilson said.

“We’ve actually had a few like that over the tournament so we’ve been a little unlucky.”

Sthalekar asked Wilson to remove the bail and see if it did actually come off, despite having changed ends at the end of the over.

“Yep, it comes off, it’s flashing,” she said.

“No chewing gum?” Nicholson asked.

Jonassen didn’t last too much longer. Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images

After some more banter, Wilson asked Jonassen about her take on the incident.

While she appeared to not believe it did actually hit the stump, Sthalekar told Jonassen to go buy a lottery ticket.

“I don’t often do so maybe,” Jonassen said.

Callum Ferguson was still blown away by the scenes, saying: “It sounded so loud where we were Tahlia, I can’t believe they didn’t come off”.

Code Sports reporter Lachlan McKirdy believed the incident was one that “simply shouldn’t happen.”

This simply shouldn’t happen.

Whether it’s heavy bails or something about the stumps, something has got to change. #WBBL09

pic.twitter.com/dO9YrrqMlX

— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) November 24, 2023

Fans of Australian T20 cricket will know exactly why the bail didn’t fall off as easy as in the past — thanks to the late, great Andrew Symonds.

Symonds weighed the bails when he was a commentator for Fox Sports, finding the Zing bails were twice as heavy as traditional wooden bails because of the batteries used to light them up/

Luckily for the Thunder, Jonassen’s luck with the bat didn’t last too much longer as she was out in the final over.

Unluckily for the Thunder, Jonassen spun her magic to guide her side home with the ball.

Along the way, she became the highest wicket-taker in either WBBL or BBL history, moving to 158, ahead of Sean Abbott, who has 154 wickets in the men’s competition.