It’s not quite clear what the actual word used is, it’s hard to make out over the stump mic amid the flurry of limbs and the crescendo-ing commentary. “It’s an absolute …” Is it ‘Clanger’? Surely not? That means something completely different to what this is. ‘Banger’? Maybe … but no, that’s not it. In truth, any one of the number of words used to describe a cortex-boggling catch would do the trick. It was an absolute screamer/rippah/stunner. But maybe let’s just check again, fire up the replay, let’s have another look.
The walrus moustachioed Travis Head trundles in to bowl an off-break at the Kiwi opener Will Young on the third afternoon at Wellington’s Basin Reserve. Young prods forward to a good length ball that doesn’t grip or turn but slides on straight. The edge is taken and the ball seems to pick up speed as it flies to the right of the wicketkeeper Alex Carey and the left-hand side of Steve Smith at first slip, ostensibly his weaker side, but when it comes to catching – Smith doesn’t really have a weaker side.
