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On day three of the first Test match against Sri Lanka, Tim Southee, the captain of New Zealand, plucked out a sensational flying catch out of thin air with his right hand, to send Pathum Nissanka back into the pavilion on the bowling of William O’Rourke. The moment happened at the start of the second innings of Sri Lanka in the first session on day three after New Zealand had taken a valuable 35-run first innings lead at the Galle International Stadium.
In the third over of Sri Lanka’s second innings, William O’Rourke delivered a short of a good length delivery, to which Pathum Nissanka tried to play a defensive stroke while jumping on his toes. But, instead of the ball hitting the middle of the bat, it caught the outside edge before Tim Southee reacted sharply to take a sensational catch flying to his right in the slips to dismiss the Sri Lankan for two.
Watch the one-handed stunner from Tim Southee in the slips here:
Sri Lanka are in control of first Test at home against New Zealand in Galle
After their impressive start in the second innings, New Zealand bowlers were unable to put any sustained pressure on Dimuth Karunaratne (83 off 127) and Dinesh Chandimal (61 off 150), who put together a second wicket stand of 147 runs, to put them in a very good position on the third afternoon of the Test match. But then, New Zealand came firing back with three quick wickets, seeing the back of Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, and Kamindu Mendis.
William O’Rourke has taken three out of four Sri Lankan wickets in the second innings alongside one from Ajaz Patel, to keep New Zealand in the contest. As of this writing, Sri Lanka are 178/4 in 54 overs with Angelo Mathews (10 off 25) holding up one end, while captain Dhanajaya de Silva just walked to the crease, and he hasn’t troubled the scorers yet.
