New Zealand cricketer Nathan Smith made the entire world sit and take notice of him with a stunning catch during New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 2nd ODI. Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar also gave a hilarious take on the effort stating ‘Who said flying is just for planes and birds?’
Nathan Smith’s flying catch
Smith took a stunning diving catch at the deep-third boundary to dismiss Eshan Malinga. This episode happened on the last ball of the 29th over. Sri Lanka were struggling at 136/8 in the chase of 256. A good length ball on middle and off from William O’Rourke saw Malinga trying to swat the ball across the line after making room.
However, he got beaten by the pace and the ball took the top edge and over the wicketkeeper. Smith sprinted towards the ball and put in a last-ditch dive full-fledged flying parallel to the ground for a second to grab it perfectly in the bucket.
New Zealand register comfortable win over Sri Lanka
New Zealand breeze past Sri Lanka by 113 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. Another top-order collapse for Sri Lanka meant they were always behind in the chase.
In a match which was reduced to 37 overs New Zealand batted first and reached 255 for 9 with a 112-run second-wicket stand between Rachin Ravindra and Mark Chapman. Maheesh Theekshana picked up 4 wickets which also included a hat-trick. The spinner finished with figures of 4/44.
SriLanka never really got their run chase going as they lost half of the side with 79 runs on board. Kamindu and Janith Liyanage put on 57 runs stand for the fifth wicket but the run rate kept escalating as the visitors were unable to score runs at a brisk pace. Sri Lanka were eventually bowled out for 147 runs. For Kiwis Will O’Rourke took 3 for 31, Jacob Duffy 2 for 30, while Matt Henry and Nathan Smith claimed a wicket apiece.
