A photographer was captured on live TV taking a superb one-handed catch beyond the boundary as South Africa captain Faf du Plessis hit a six during their ICC World Cup 2019 match against Bangladesh at The Oval on Sunday (June 2)
London: The ICC World Cup 2019 witnessed a stunning catch by England all-rounder Ben Stokes against South Africa on the opening day of the 10-team tournament. Now, there is someone giving competition to Stokes and he is not even playing in the ICC’s showpiece event.
You would be wondering who it is? He is not a player but a photographer who is covering the quadrennial event in England.
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A photographer was captured on live TV taking a superb one-handed catch beyond the boundary as South Africa captain Faf du Plessis hit a six during their match against Bangladesh at The Oval on Sunday (June 2).
The photographer became an instant star. The video of him grabbing the catch was feature on ICC Cricket World Cup’s website as “Play of the day”.
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The man who took that catch was Ian Kington. He was clicking pictures of the on-field action when du Plessis hit one towards him off spinner Mosaddek Hossain. This hit brought up du Plessis’ half century.
Looks like has some competition for incredible catches in the deep!
👏 to this multi-talented photographer! pic.twitter.com/r7EiVbwOEt
"That is a good grab, that is a classic catch," said television commentator Mark Nicholas, a former captain of Hampshire, when a replay was shown.
"I had two frames (photographs) of him (Du Plessis) hitting the six and then the instinct is to look up and see where the ball is," Kington told news agency AFP.
"Obviously it's quite tight for space where we sit and I couldn't move," the 49-year-old from Kent added.
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"I had my long lens camera in one hand and I just sort of reached up and it stuck and I caught it. I've never played cricket in an actual team, I've just joined in a bit with my mates," he explained.
Despite du Plessis’ fifty, South Africa failed to chase down 331 as Bangladesh registered a shock 21- run victory. This was Proteas’ second straight loss after being defeated by hosts England in the opening game.
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