SA vs AUS | Twitter reacts as Markram and Coetzee pull off best Pakistan impression with comical catch drop
Pakistan are in a league of their own when it comes to providing top-notch cricketing bloopers but other teams seem to be catching up if Sunday's evidence is anything to go by. Gerald Coetzee let go off a sitter due to miscommunication after both he and Aiden Markram refused to commit to a catch.
Australia's chase of 316 in the series-deciding ODI at Wanderers suffered a major jolt early on when Marco Jansen served up a double-wicket maiden and were on the brink of sinking even further, were it not for an embarrassing mishap on the field. The tall left-arm quick, bowling the 10th over of the innings with the score 59/2, had managed to get Mitchell Marsh to sky one high in the air but his fielders failed to do their part to produce a blooper for the ages.
Marsh's top edge flew towards square leg, where Gerald Coetzee was stationed, but the pacer needed to run a few paces to his left to get under the ball. At the same time, Aiden Markram decided to chase the ball from short midwicket in hopes of grabbing on but realized quite early in his attempt that he was much farther from the ball from his teammate. He thus stopped in his tracks and kneeled down to keenly watch Coetzee do his thing but the 22-year-old at the last moment took his eyes off the ball and stared blankly at Markram, evidently under the impression that the batter was the one going for the catch. The Kookaburra consequently dropped in between the two stranded fielders and hardly a foot away from Coetzee, much to Jansen's dismay.
Twitterati, unsurprisingly, was quick to draw comparisons of the effort with the iconic drop committed by Saeed Ajmal and Shoaib Malik in an ODI against West Indies over a decado ago.The dropped catch!
— Cric Browse (@CricBrowse) September 17, 2023
It's not his day!
Coeetze giving easy runs and dropped the catch at wrong time #SAvAUS
— The REAL CRICKET GUY__23 (@TRCG_23) September 17, 2023
Woah! That’s a wild prediction!
Coetzee can't bat, can't bowl and surely dropped a dolly 😂 Coetzee will concede more than 60+ in his 10 overs & he'll make sure AUS will get over the line #SAvAUS
— Ykush_Tyagiᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠ (@Ykush_Tyagi) September 17, 2023
Unreal similarity!
SA’s Coetze recreated this classic fielding meme. Welcome to the Ajmal club of fielding. #SAvsAUS @sagarcasm @CricketFreakD3 @mufaddal_vohra pic.twitter.com/u4xlTR3oNV
— Amitesh Aaryan (@AmiteshAaryan) September 17, 2023
Wait, that's illegal!
Coetzee is playing against us here #SAvsAUS
— Justa (@Justa_Adkins) September 17, 2023
It would’ve been smooth sailing for SA if Coetzee had taken the catch!
Springboks scoring four tries in twelve minutes means i can safely focus on the cricket which is a lot more delicately poised by thanks to Jansen, Markram, Miller and Phehlukwayo we have a decent shot at it. Marsh wicket is key. #RugbyWorldCup #SAvsAus #Cricket
— brett Fish anderson (@BrettFishA) September 17, 2023
Markram showing how it’s done!
That's a great catch by Markram 🐐🐐 #SAvsAUS
— Thandeka Buhlebethu Sindane (@Buhlebethu_) September 17, 2023
Are you sure about that?
All set for Mitch Marsh’s scintillating 150. #SAvsAUS
— anil sillay (@anilsillay) September 17, 2023
Something SA have to work on before the World Cup!
A lot or work is needed in the Proteas fielding though .. 🙆🏽♂️#SAvAUS #ODI
— b u h l e (@gregohle) September 17, 2023
Every SA fan after the catch drop!
Eish Coetzee 😔#SAvAUS
— Moipone (@MoiponeSenoe) September 17, 2023