22-year-old Wizzard Ncedane went out to bat for Kovsies Cricket Club against Clares Cricket Club in the Momentum National Club Championships in Pretoria on Sunday 14 April 2019 and pulled the fielders’ legs when he took guard.

The medium-pacer has played just one first-class match for Free State against Gauteng in February, during which he failed to pick up a wicket in either innings and faced just two balls in his only innings before being bowled by Keith Dudgeon for a duck.

Sadly, his innings against Clares was less successful than his first-class debut innings. Coming in to bat with Kovsies in trouble at 120/8, Ncedane took guard as a left-hander, presumably playing a trick on the fielding side, who had to reset themselves when they realised the reason he was asking for middle-and-off stump when he took guard was because he wanted to know where middle-and-leg was when he turned around and took guard as a right-hander.

The fielders seemed to take it in good spirit, but 32-year-old leggie Abdul Hack Razak made sure the tail-ender didn’t have time for any more pranks, sending down a googly that had less loop on it than most of his stock deliveries – the delivery was also quite well pitched up, and it trapped the batsman in front for a golden duck.

Having rolled Kovsies for 144 in 44.2 overs, Clares cruised to victory with 24.2 overs to spare.

The event, which is put together by Cricket South Africa (CSA), encompasses the six outright winners of the Franchise regional play-offs, all playing against each other in a 50-over format.

Footage: Pitchvision