Watch: Marais Erasmus fails to watch delivery during South Africa vs England first ODI

Marais Erasmus is one of the best umpires in modern-day cricket who is known to be very good at his decision-making skills, and at the same time also seeks opinions from the third umpire in case he is not too sure of the final verdict that needs to be made from his end.

Erasmus recently found himself in a hilarious moment as he was completely unaware of what was going on around him. This funny incident happened during the first One Day International (ODI) between South Africa and England that was played at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Friday, January 27.

Marais Erasmus unknowingly ended up missing a legal delivery and the video of the same went viral on social media in no time. This happened in the 24^th over of England’s chase as pacer Anrich Nortje bowled to Jason Roy.

Nortje bowled a slightly short of length delivery as Roy offered a cut shot. However, Marais Erasmus who was stationed at square leg was busy with something else and completely missed the delivery. He only became aware of what was happening around him after he heard a noise from Jason Roy’s bat when the latter timed the ball and set off for a run.

Watch the video here:

England snatch defeat from jaws of victory

Coming back to the contest, England were in a commanding position to go 1-0 up in the series after Jason Roy and Dawid Malan laid a strong foundation with a 146-run opening stand under 20 overs. Roy scored a blistering 91-ball 113 while Malan played a good supporting knock of 59 runs off 55 deliveries.

Jason Roy stood firm like a rock even when the Three Lions lost a couple of top-order batters and at one point in time, he looked to single-handedly take his team over the line after successfully getting to his century.

Nonetheless, once the South Africa-born cricketer was dismissed, it all fell apart for the reigning world champions from there on and they were bundled out for 271 in the 45^th over as the Proteas drew first blood with a hard-fought 27-run victory.

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