The fan pouched the ball with one hand leaving Paul Collingwood and others awestruck.© X (Twitter)
England cricket team mentor Paul Collingwood was impressed with a fan after he took a one-handed catch while holding a pint of beer during Day 3 of the ongoing 1st Test against Sri Lanka in Manchester. With a bright sunny day at Old Trafford and some light breeze in the air, the fan was having a beer to compliment the weather when pacer Mark Wood pummeled the ball into the stands. The incident happened in the 18th over when Asitha Fernando bowled a short ball to Wood, who pulled the ball over deep midwicket and into the stands.
The ball landed in the hands of a man, who was holding a four cups of beer stacked one underneath the other. However, he pouched the ball with one hand leaving Collingwood and others awestruck.
Collingwood was seen having a laugh about the same and even made gestures to point that the man pulled it off despite holding a pint in his other hand.
YES, SIR!
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 23, 2024
Take incredible catch
Don't spill a drop
Impress the coaches pic.twitter.com/IamoUULjmb
On Day 3, Jamie Smith scored his maiden Test hundred before England reduced Sri Lanka to 10-2 in their second innings as the hosts strengthened their grip on the series opener at Old Trafford.
Smith's 111 on the third day was the centrepiece of England's first-innings 358 all out -- a total that left them 122 runs ahead of Sri Lanka's initial 236.
But with the hours of play extended after weather interruptions on the first two days of this three-match series, by the time England were dismissed it meant Sri Lanka faced an awkward short session before lunch.
And that was enough time for them to lose two wickets in three overs.
Nishan Madushka fell for a third-ball duck when shouldering arms to a Chris Woakes delivery that nipped back off the pitch before Kusal Mendis was also out for nought when edging Gus Atkinson low behind to Smith.
Sri Lanka must look to Dimuth Karunaratne (four not out) and veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews (six not out) to prevent further collapse, with England pressing hard in what is stand-in captain Ollie Pope's first match in charge after Ben Stokes was ruled out with a torn hamstring.
(With AFP Inputs)