Crowd goes berserk as fan wins $50k with catch
A young cricket fan has won $50k with an absolutely brilliant one-handed catch in the crowd during the T20 International between Australia and New Zealand.
His eyes went wide as saucers, he screamed his head off, his mates mobbed him and the entire crowd went wild. With good cause.
INCREDIBLE: Aussies make history with mammoth run chase
As part of the Tui catch competition if a punter wearing a special Tui Catch-A-Million-branded T-shirt catches a six one-handed during a limited overs or T20 international in New Zealand they win the prize.
And there were chances galore at Eden Park against Australia, with the Kiwis scoring a monstrous 243, flailing the Aussie attack to all parts.
All but one of the sixes were dropped, but young Mitchell Grimstone, 20, held his nerve in the front row to lean over the fence and take ball one-handed.
Interviewed after the catch the student said he and some mates had been following the team around to different grounds trying for the money.
He's the second fan to walk away with 50K this summer.
Australia pulled off the highest run chase in a Twenty20 international to claim a dramatic five-wicket victory over New Zealand in their tri-series clash in Auckland.
Set a mammoth 244 to win on Friday night at Eden Park, the visitors achieved their target with seven balls to spare as David Warner (59 off 24 balls) and D'Arcy Short (76 off 44) ran riot.
Warner ended his white-ball form slump in emphatic fashion, smashing five sixes, while Short notched his maiden 50 in his fourth T20 international.
In a tense ending to the high-scoring extravaganza, Marcus Stoinis was run out at the non-striker's end in the second-last over before Aaron Finch sealed victory with a six.
All up, 32 sixes were scored across both innings in what Australian paceman Kane Richardson described as a win for the ages.
"Twelve an over for the whole game, two a ball for the whole game - that's unbelievable," Richardson said.
"And to do it with seven balls to spare, that's an amazing effort. That's one of the great games."
The result leaves New Zealand needing to defeat England on Sunday in Hamilton to secure a rematch against Australia in Wednesday night's final at the same venue.
with AAP
