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catches
Kyle Coetzer’s catch
By Will last year, mid-June, No Comments; be the first!
I’ve finally found the video of Kyle Coetzer’s astonishing leap at long-on in Scotland’s match against South Africa. All the Associates did themselves no harm in this tournament, and this is comfortably the competition’s best catch. Absolutely brilliant. Just look at it!
Click here if you can’t see the video above.
No Comments »Duminy’s catch
By Will last year, mid-January, 3 Comments »
There’s nothing I like more than a really good catch. Yorkshire puddings; sunny winter days; the bosom of one’s family. Yes, they’re all shit compared a really good catch.
And JP Duminy’s today was one of the very best, for a number of reasons. It was at night, under a black sky, with floodlights obscuring his vision. He had to run, oh I don’t know, maybe 20 yards at full pelt. The ball was hit over his head, so he was running backwards and therefore blind. He had a cap on (I could never field in a cap for this very reason) and couldn’t see the ball until the very last second, when he still had some yardage to make up, so he dived forward. A top piece of sport and entertainment.
If ever there was an example of someone taking his chances (that works metaphorically as well as the obvious literal pun. Thanks), it’s that catch by Duminy. South Africa’s tour of Australia has been all the richer for him realising his immense ability.
** There are some disgustingly flaky videos of the catch on Youtube, most of which have been uploaded by some freeloading twit attempting to advertise his silly little website, so I’ll let you try and find it when a proper one surfaces
3 Comments »Poor technology hampers cricket
By Will 2 years ago, mid-July, 9 Comments »
Michael Vaughan dives to catch Hashim Amla. Or did he? (© Getty Images)
I really want technology to work in cricket, for it to help umpires, and avoid those unnecessary delays. But today highlighted just why no current technology can really be trusted to confirm or correct an umpire’s decision.
There were two incidents, one from each team. Andrew Strauss edged to AB de Villiers at third slip, who dived across and claimed a catch low to his right. Very low. One glance at the slow-mo replay – that is all it took – confirmed the ball had bounced well before de Villiers, and even when the ball made it into his hands, he was not in control of it. It was simply not out, despite his and all the other South Africans’ insistence. Strauss stood his ground and the replay clearly confirmed he was right to do so. I’ve no problem with de Villiers claiming the catch. It’s his duty, and if he felt he caught it, fine.
The second incident is trickier. Hashim Amla fended off a brute of a bouncer from Andrew Flintoff, the ball ballooning tantalisingly in front of Michael Vaughan. Amazingly, for someone with only half a knee, he made a terrific effort to reach the ball, diving in front of him and apparently scooping it up with his fingertips before it hit the ground. He immediately celebrated, whooping with delight, and it looked a clear winner.
Amla headed off, but his coach and captain gesticulated for him to stay, prompting the use of a replay which couldn’t confirm whether Vaughan’s catch was clean or not. From one angle, it looked like he had got his fingers underneath it and it never touched the grass. From another, you couldn’t see the ends of his fingers, so the ball appeared to be grounded. In short, it was inconclusive and Amla was allowed to stay. It could be a decision that defines the series should Amla go on to score a hundred.
Technology ought to be helping cricket, but at the moment we’re stuck in this awful halfway house. The players aren’t sure. The umpires are frightened that their errors will be exposed, and understandably refer it to the television official. But when that last line of defence is so utterly indecisive, the biggest losers are the players and the public for having to wait several minutes for a non-decision. It’s utterly crap.
I have no solution to this. We will have to wait another decade or more for technology to improve, but I’m sure it will. Eventually, I can see the day where all players are wired up, their fingers acting as remote sensors for a television official. When players’ hands touch the ball, it’ll send a signal; perhaps the ball’s own shape could be monitored, signalling to the umpire when it’s touched the ground. Maybe it’ll turn automatically turn green if it’s not-out, or explode for a player who continually abuses the referral system.
Who bloody knows. Maybe we’re asking too much of technology. It works almost flawlessly in tennis, but cricket is far more complex. Many more players on a much larger outfield (of varying sizes and shapes) makes it so hard for science and technology to monitor things…tennis is reliant on the lines on the court and sensors on the nets, and hawkeye has made that process brilliantly slick.
There’s no chance we’ll ever revert to players walking, accepting fielders’ puppy-eyed nodding that they took the catch. So what exactly is the solution until technology catches up?
9 Comments »Video of James Kirtley’s astonishing catch
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of September, 2 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)
2 Comments »Video of Matthew Sinclair’s catch
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of August, 6 Comments »
There’s something artistic about outfield catches. You just don’t forget the good ones, and this is an absolute corker. (click here if you can’t see it below)
6 Comments »Classic catches video
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of July, 3 Comments »
Some absolute stunning catches here, well worth watching if only to hear the commentators (Richie Benaud, Bill Lawrie and Tony Greig mainly) go nuts. That one by Mark Taylor at first slip was sensational…
3 Comments »Australia having a tough time
By Scott 5 years ago, mid-December, No Comments; be the first!
It was a very old fashioned day of hard, tough, Test cricket in Perth yesterday. South Africa bowled with superb discipline, good line and length, and had some misfortune with the umpiring. But Australia dug in, toughed it out, and thanks to the ‘brittle’ middle order of Hodge and Hussey, have the whip hand now.
And don’t feel too sorry for the South Africans. They have dropped five or six catches now for the Test and while their ground fielding has been very good, their catching is lamentable; a far cry from the atheletic teams coached by Bob Woolmer. So spare the sympathy for a team that can field.
No Comments »Geraint Jones…again
By Will 5 years ago, at the end of August, 41 Comments »
He’s had a tough series has Geraint. But did you know his tally of 36 catches is the most for a ‘keeper this year? One of those odd facts that no one can explain! (well, I can try: it’s England’s continued excellent bowling attack which has given him so many to catch)
41 Comments »