Slip catching has always been an art, and some have done extremely well to set the benchmark in the past. In modern-day cricket, with batsmen pulling off pre-meditated scoops and ramps, a slip fielder in South Africa set the benchmark with what could be a move that others could try out more in cricket.

The fielder had pre-meditated the paddle sweep on this occasion, and having seen the batsman bend down to play the shot before the ball reached him, the slip fielder anticipated the shot and quickly sprung into action. He moved behind the keeper to the leg side, followed the trajectory of the shot to perfection and dove full length to grab the catch with both hands.

Watch the stunning catch here:

This is one of the great all-time slips catches from South Africa’s provincial 50-over competition! pic.twitter.com/5Gpfv9V9Jg

— 🏏FlashScore Cricket Commentators (@FlashCric) March 1, 2021

This wasn’t the first time a slip fielder had pulled off a catch as ridiculous as this. In South Africa itself a few years back, van Jaarsveld had pulled off a similar catch by running behind the keeper to the leg-side and bending low to complete the almost as though he was picking up the ball.