If you missed yesterday’s One Day International match between Australia and New Zealand, then you missed Aussie captain Steve Smith going absolutely ballistic all up and down the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Not only did he manage to rack up the highest ODI score ever seen on the SCG, but during the New Zealand innings he helped dismiss BJ Watling with what can only be described as “complete highway robbery.”
Off the bowling of Mitchell Marsh, Smith, fielding at gully, managed to haul in the kind of absolute screamer that you previously could’ve only achieved with the aid of a swimming pool.
ICYMI, get ready for your brain to fall out of your ears.
The catch even caught the attention of US sports media, whose ordinary understanding of cricket doesn’t extend much beyond “Casey Jones in the first ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ movie.”
SI found humour in the comparison between Smith and his Baltimore Ravens namesake, while SB Nation reckoned it was “out of control.” Meanwhile Deadspin had a good old fashioned rave about the grab, and USA Today‘s ForTheWin section could do naught but resort to Batman puns.
But back here in Australia? The plaudits are following a much more reverent tone.
Not only is the catch – which happened yesterday, I should add – being rated as the best of the summer, it’s being held up as the best grab ever taken by an Australian male cricketer.
ABC News ran an online poll, comparing Smith’s pearler to other similar shit-the-bed good catches. Unsurprisingly, by a margin almost double that of 2nd place, Smithy’s catch is being rated by punters as the best ever seen from the green and gold.
Smith’s catch drew in 39.47% of the vote, ahead of John Dyson‘s 1982 classic which drew in 19.81%…
…Glenn McGrath‘s epic 2002 Adealide Oval dive on 12.63%…
…and this Ricky Ponting scorcher from the 2008 test series against the Kiwis, which drew in 9.71% of the vote.
But yeah, Smudge’s grab? That’s gonna be bloody hard to top.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Matt King, CA/Getty.
