Watch: Quinton de Kock took a stunning one-handed catch diving backwards to dismiss Alex carey one run short of what would have been his second ODI century yesterday (September 15), and wrapped up a huge win for South Africa in the process.
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Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller put on a record-breaking partnership batting first for South Africa. The pair put on 222 runs off 94 balls at the back-end of South Africa’s innings, with Klaasen finishing on 174 from 83. It was the third-highest ODI fifth-wicket partnership in history and the fastest partnership ever to reach 200 in ODIs.
Having set Australia an improbable 417 to win, Carey came to the crease after Lungi Ngidi trapped Mitchell Marsh lbw to reduce Australia to 22-2. From there, Carey anchored the innings as regular wickets fell around him. Finally he was joined by Josh Hazlewood at the crease well short of their target at 252-9.
By that point, Carey had reached 99 and needed one more run to score his first ODI century since 2020. However, de Kock’s stunning grab both ended Australia’s innings and Carey’s hopes of reaching three figures.
Carey looked to pull a shorter ball down the leg side from Ngidi, but gloved it up into the air behind the wicket. Running backwards to his left, de Kock dived full length behind him and took the catch in his outstretched left-hand before tumbling to the ground.
A check on Ulttra-Edge confirmed that the ball had indeed come off Carey’s glove, and meant South Africa won the match by 264 runs.
