We thought cricket bats were designed for this sort of thing
We've seen cricketers have to replace their bats plenty of times before, usually due to a chip or a crack in the bottom, but we haven't seen a bat change quite this urgent before.
Sri Lanka star Mahela Jayawadene was facing Afghanistan pace bowler Shappoor Zadran in their World Cup Pool A match today and played a standard defensive stroke, only to see his bat disappear down the wicket.
Jayawardene went on to score a vital century as Sri Lanka went on to survive a real scare at the hands of the associate nation, securing a four-wicket win with just ten balls to spare.
