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Andrew Fidel Fernando 7y

Du Plessis stunner stings Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka tour of South Africa 2016-17, Cricket

The backtracking fumble

In the Johannesburg Test against Sri Lanka, JP Duminy had chased at an errant uppercut from backward point, and flung himself horizontally near third man to complete a spectacular catch. A similar chance came to him again. When Niroshan Dickwella top edged an uppercut off Kagiso Rabada, Duminy tore after it from backward point again, lined it up perfectly, but this time, could not close his hands on the ball. This had been by far the easiest of the two chances - even third man could have come in off the boundary to take it.

The bright idea

There were several attempts to vanquish a swarm of bees that had taken over the infield, including putting a fizzy drink in a bucket in an attempt to trap them in the receptacle. One of the tactics that almost worked, though, seemed to come from a player himself. Chris Morris was seen lugging a fire extinguisher out onto the field and handing it to a groundsman. The groundsman was able to displace the bees momentarily, only for the extinguisher to eventually run out of gas, and for the bees to take their positions once more.

The mandatory du Plessis stunner

Faf du Plessis has already taken two sublime one-handed grabs in this series, and would not let his 100th ODI pass without producing another. Debutant Lahiru Madushanka attempted to steer a back-of-a-length ball from Dwaine Pretorius to third man, but could not beat du Plessis - at second slip flinging himself aerially to his right, and coming up with his second spectacular take in as many matches.

The bad leave

Sri Lanka have struggled to leave balls on length all tour, but today one batsman fell attempting to leave on turn. Seeing a well-flighted Imran Tahir delivery pitch about 30 centimetres outside off stump, left-hander Sachith Pathirana declined to play a shot, perhaps thinking Tahir had bowled the googly, and that the ball would break away from the stumps. Instead it was just the usual stock ball. It cut back sharply, and hit Pathirana's undefended wickets between middle and off stump.

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