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    Articles tagged as: catch

    Bollocks to the side strain: give me the ball

    By Will 9 months ago, Comments

    South Africa won the first one-dayer against West Indies by six wickets today in Centurion. You can tell by that sentence how excited I was by the game, but the dullness was enlivened dramatically by the most stunning of caught-and-bowleds from Dwayne Bravo. He has a side strain and was not, by his own admission, expected to bowl for another two weeks. But balls to that, he thought, and on he trundled.

    He found one to bounce on Justin Ontong who was squared up, fending it up in the air about a metre from his crease. Somehow, Bravo sprinted down the pitch, dived, clung on with both hands with the ball just a few inches off the turf. A brilliant piece of fielding, of spirit in adversity, of courage - and of captaincy.

    Photo by Neil Lane Cricinfo Ltd ©

    Dwayne Bravo dives to dismiss Justin Ontong

    Comments



    Pietersen c Sangakkara b Vaas 1

    By Will last year, mid-December, Comments

    Oh how simple it sounds.

    Pietersen c Sangakkara b Vaas 1

    Alas, it is anything but - and the media (yes, I know I’m part of it, but I can still comment) might be making a meal of it in the coming 24 hours. For those of you who didn’t see it, this is what happened:

    60.3 Vaas to Pietersen, OUT, and the plan has worked, it’s a brilliant piece of work at slip, but wait, there’s controversy. Pietersen went for a drive at a wide ball, nicked to the third slip, Silva, who dived to his left and grabbed the catch low to the turf, it bobbles up and Sangakkara comes from first slip to take the rebound. Pietersen waits as the umpires consult, Harper raises his finger, but TV replays show the ball appears to have brushed the ground before the initial take by Silva. Pietersen waits inside the boundary, as he did at Lord’s earlier this year against India, but there’s no overturning this decision and he’s off

    Clarification from Andrew Miller:

    The difference between the two incidents is that at Lord’s there wasn’t an original agreement between the umpires on Dhoni’s catch, it was given immediately by Simon Taufel. However, in Colombo the umpires conferred before deciding Pietersen was out and the laws state that the third official can only be used if the view of the on-field umpires is obstructed.

    This is clearly bullshit and the law needs amending immediately. Like many, I still hanker after the good old days when video replays were rare and pretty inconclusive, but cricket must move with the times and we can’t have this middle-ground where technology is used sparingly. It’s making the sport look pretty damn stupid.

    Your thoughts? Vote on the right-hand-side of the site, too.

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    Comments

    Blinding catch by Mark Wagh (video)

    By Will last year, at the end of July, Comments

    Cor, this is a bit special:

    Comments

    Video of Shane Bond’s caught and bowled

    By Will last year, at the end of February, Comments

    An unbelievable catch by Shane Bond in his follow-through. He is a bit special.

    See here if you can’t view it above.

    Comments

    Video of Nathan Astle’s blinding catch

    By Will 2 years ago, at the start of October, Comments

    This was a belter - earlier this year. Click here if you can’t see it below.

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    Video of James Kirtley’s astonishing catch

    By Will 2 years ago, at the start of September, Comments

    This remains one of my favourite catches and surely one of the very best in one-day history. Just look at it! Click here if you can’t see the video below)

    Comments

    Hussey’s catch

    By Will 2 years ago, mid-January, Comments

    If you have Sky, or some way of watching Mike Hussey’s catch, then do. It was stunning. (Aus v SA). He ran 13/14 paces - a sprint - then dived and caught it in his left hand. Special bit of fielding that - quite brilliant! Is there anything much better in cricket than a great, great catch?

    Comments