Bangladesh handed South Africa their second defeat in a row at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Chasing a total of 331, South Africa fell short by 21 runs. The Proteas skipper, Faf du Plessis led from the front as he scored 62 off 53 balls. During the course of which he smashed five fours and one six.
It was his one big hit, that paved way to a spectacular moment on the boundary line.
AFP photographer Ian Kington who was stationed at the Pavilion End of the ground saw the ball coming towards him as du Plessis took the aerial route in the 25th over.
As the ball hurtled towards him and some of his fellow photographers behind long-off, Kington, who held a large telephoto lens with his left hand, calmly caught the ball with his right.
TV commentator, Mark Nicholas was also in awe of the stunner on the boundary line and said, “That is a good grab, that is a classic catch.”
ICC also posted a video of the incident on Twitter and the effort later became, ‘play of the day’.
Tweeple also lauded the photographer from Kent on his efforts. “Looks like Ben Stokes has some competition for incredible catches in the deep,” ICC tweeted.
Cameraman Kington on the Catch
“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 AFP.
“Obviously it’s quite tight for space where we sit and I couldn’t move. I had my long lens camera in one hand and I just sort of reached up and it stuck and I caught it.”Ian Kington
What makes Kington's catch all the more impressive is that he is not a cricketer himself.
“I've never played cricket in an actual team, I've just joined in a bit with my mates,” the 49-year-old explained.
When asked about his new-found celebrity image, Kington added, “My phone keeps going off. It's nice to do something that means you've got a story to tell, but I guess that's my five minutes of fame.”
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