WATCH, BBL | Cam Bancroft rides the wavy highs and takes flight to pluck another mid-air stunner

01/20/2023

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There are few more entertaining spectacles in cricket than seeing prime athletes whiz around the field and pull off seemingly otherworldly stunts for any lesser human. Cameron Bancroft reminded the world of his superiority on the field with a diving stunner to send the crowd into a frenzy.

The Perth Scorchers blazed their way to another dominant victory in the Big Bash League on Friday as they thrashed the Adelaide Strikers by seven wickets in a heavily one-sided encounter. The hosts only managed a paltry 92 at their home, the Adelaide Oval, a total that only took 11.1 overs for the league leaders to chase. However, things in the encounter could have been different had the highly experienced Kangaroo Alex Carey sparked for Adelaide but the flamboyant batter was denied his opportunity by a catch-of-the-season contender from former international Cameron Bancroft.

The Strikers were already down to 20/3 at the end of the fourth over when Peter Hatzoglou was handed the ball for the first time in the match. The skilful legspinner eked out a couple of dot balls from Carey in the over, provoking the newly arrived wicketkeeper batter on the crease to go for a big heave on the fifth ball of the over. Carey slog-swept a flighted delivery outside off albeit he did not get enough on the ball to watch it sail over the ropes. Nevertheless, the Kookaburra seemed to be heading safely to the boundary through the gap towards cow corner, only for Bancroft to spoil the party. The veteran sprinted from deep midwicket to his right at lightning speed and pulled out a desperate last-second leap at the ball that could hardly be classified as a dive. However, as if by some miracle, Bancroft grabbed onto the ball with both his hands and did not let the hard impact upon hitting the ground put his efforts to waste.

All the players were left stunned by Bancroft's effort, well aware that the Scorcher had executed a similar stunt exactly a week ago against Sydney Thunder, ensuring he has at least two entries when the time comes to vote for the catch of the season.