The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup started overnight in England, with the host nation taking on South Africa in the opening clash of the hotly anticipated tournament. And if you’ve got skin in the Catch Of The Cup stakes, it might already be over and done thanks to a truly absurd effort by England’s Ben Stokes.
England were already well on top of South Africa in defending their first innings total of 311 (EDITOR’S NOTE: come original), before Stokes casually sent Andile Phehlukwayo with one of the most utterly absurd grabs you’re likely to see in this, or any, year.
Cop a bloody look at it.
Have you EVER seen a better catch? 🔥
Ben Stokes with a grab that has to be seen to be believed!#WeAreEngland #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/rpN04OxVTk— ICC (@ICC) May 30, 2019
Unbloodybelievable. That’s the kind of catch you can only achieve in your wildest weekend warrior dreams. It just sticks in there. One grab. Bam.
That’s the kind of grab you expect someone named Browny to take during a Boxing Day backyard match, throwing himself to the ground and having the taped-up tennis ball sticking in the mitt while the half-full beer in his other hand sprays everywhere.
That thing was going like a goddamned bullet and it somehow finds the centre of his hand even though a) he was running with the flight of it, b) only kind of had his eyes on the ball, and c) had to twist his wrong arm into some sort of double-jointed giraffe neck to get it.
Shut it down, folks. The World Cup’s not getting any better than this.
