Best crowd catch ever? Six all-time classic catches after Aus v SA stunner

Scott Allen
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Harry Gill one handed catch
Harry Gill one handed catch (Cricket Australia)

When you go to watch a one-day cricket match you are there to see your side win and hopefully be entertained. But in the back of your mind there might be a small chance that your catching skills might be called upon too.

The rise of one-day and T20 cricket has seen crowd involvement increase tenfold, with more and more stunning catches taken in the stands.

But it’s a very unforgiving skill. Catch it and you are the hero, drop it and you’ll get laughed at by the crowd and mocked by the TV commentators.

So when 25-year bush pilot Harry Gill was watching Australia’s 1st T20 against South Africa with two cans of vodka in his hand, he would have been forgiven for dodging Australian Tim David’s latest powerful clump into the stands.

But not Gill, with his free hand he nonchalantly plucked the ball out of the sky and held it aloft with a huge grin on his moustachioed face.

The catch was impressive enough, but being able to maintain a firm grasp on two cans at the same time brought most of the praise from social media. Just comfortably holding two cans in one hand is hard enough.

 

Australia won the match by 17 runs, with David the pick of the batters after blasting 83 off 52 balls, which included eight sixes and four fours.

The Age reported Gill saying: “The lemonade ones are bloody good. I’ve got a bit of a hangover this morning. It just stuck. My hand is a bit sore this morning but, yeah, happy with it. My phone is blowing up.”

While Gill enjoys the adulation of cricket fans around the world, we asked ourselves at Cricket365 if this was the best crowd catch of all-time.

We’ve put together a list of some of our favourites. Have we missed any big ones?

Channel 9 cameraman catch

Arguably the best and coolest crowd catch of all-time belongs to Channel 9 cameraman Tony Fox. who famously caught an Ian Botham six while smoking a cigarette.

It was a two-handed catch though, but it’s the pure nonchalance of his achievement. He tosses it back on the field, sits down and takes a drag of cigarette. No celebration, just a small knowing smile.

The pint downer

It’s all going on in this catch from the Hundred at Headingley.

Firstly the catcher holds-on to a massive six, tumbling over the empty seats in front of him while still clutching the ball.

Then he nearly drops his phone, but manages to catch that too.

Finally for the cherry on the top he downs his pint, spilling most of it on his crisp white top.

That’s never coming out son.

The Nick Benton catch

A gangly bloke unusually kitted out in a flat hat and a bowtie takes a cracking catch at the Adelaide Oval.

Hang on a minute that’s Nick Benton, the South Australian cricketer and former Big Brother housemate, who was on his stag do or buck’s party as they call it in Australia.

The one-handed money spinner

A truly impressive catch among a crowd of people, plucking it from below his waistline while looking the other way.

What’s even more impressive is it apparently earned him $100K.

 

The nonchalant security guard

Cricket security guards never seem to be rushed off their feet. So this chap is sticking to the plan with this truly casual boundary catch.

The impressive attempt

For every great catch, there’s always a big drop. We’ve added this one because of the chap’s outstanding commitment to taking the catch, even if he doesn’t quite make it.