VIDEO | Animated Steve Smith launches stunning flick into empty stands

As Australia and New Zealand donned retro jerseys, at the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy down under, bringing in the 90s into the contemporary era, the play was announced to be carried out with empty stands due to the coronavirus outbreak. The first of the three ODIs is being hosted at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first and carried it out brilliantly with the opening stand lasting 124 runs until Lockie Ferguson got rid of Warner. Then came in Steve Smith and, in his otherwise bland cameo, pulled off a stunning SIX that ended up one of the highlights of the Aussie innings. 

As Ferguson came in to bowl the sixth over of his spell, Smith skilfully lifted the fuller delivery onward along the pads, uses his effortless footwork to flog the ball over deep backward square leg and the ball ends up into the empty stands. The shot had an essence of MS Dhoni’s celebrated helicopter shot, but Smith made it his own with the perfect flick shot and the eventual placement. 

What a catch!