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Acrobatic catches in today’s time are not wonders. With cricket having reached its pinnacle and T200 leagues completely dominating the game these days, players always try to put in the extra effort. Although these catches have become frequent, they are not the easy ones certainly. Plus, the thrill felt by the viewers after seeing such efforts is always going to be there.

A similar thrill was felt by the spectators that saw Shimron Hetmyer leaping at the boundary ropes to grab Martin Guptill’s catch. The West Indies fielder took an absolute stunner in the 1st T20I between West Indies and New Zealand to send back Guptill who was struggling in the middle. The incident took place in the eight over of the New Zealand innings.

On the third ball of the eighth over, Odeon Smith bowled a length delivery outside the off-stump. Guptill who was waiting deep back in his crease timed his cut cum slash perfectly (as the sound suggested). The ball went flying towards the sweeper cover region and was sailing over the boundary ropes. However, Hetmyer, who was stationed at the deep extra cover region came running to his left, leaped, and grabbed the ball cleanly.

The best thing about the catch was that the fielder managed to keep his body within the field and not cross the ropes.

Watch Hetmyer’s acrobatic effort here:

Losing streak continues for West Indies

Coming to the result of the match, West Indies failed to break their losing streak as they lost their fourth T20I in a row. New Zealand posted 185/5 in their 20 overs on the back of some sensible knocks from Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, and Jimmy Neesham. While Conway and Willamson scored 43 (29) and 47 (33) respectively, Neesham played a quickfire knock of 33* off 15 balls to power NZ to 185.

In response to this, West Indies could only manage to score 172/7 in their 20 overs. The Windies batters found it hard to score freely as the highest scorer was Shamarh Brooks with his knock of 42 (43). The other notable contributions came from Jason Holder (25 off 19) and Romario Shepherd (31* off 16).