Sam Billings Takes Brilliant Catch For England In T20 Warm Up

Remember when England were really rubbish at cricket back in 2017 well that's all changed this year and Sam Billings is proving that the team are just showing off now with a quite ridiculous catch.

Okay so the first line might have been a bit of a lie. England were really rubbish at in the Ashes and their deficiencies in Test cricket were there for all to be seen, now though it's limited overs season and they're having a jolly old time.

England celebrate their 4-1 win. Image: PA Images.

It's a huge change from tradition, which dictates that England will be rubbish at ODI, T20 AND Tests in Australia but the England limited overs sides are now amongst the best in the world.

They beat Australia 4-1 in the recent ODI series. Before they set off for New Zealand to play on ODI and Test series Eoin Morgan's side are playing a T20 tri-series against their two Oceanian hosts.

Today they warmed up against the Prime Minister's XI and Sam Billings took a quite outrageous catch:

There was a lot of questions on Billings catch seeing as he first caught the ball in front of the boundary rope, threw it up in the air, caught it again behind the rope and then landed in front of it.

Some people thought that the umpires got it wrong and the Kent captain's catch shouldn't have been allowed and instead it should have been down as a six but Cricket Australia clarified the rules.

Law 32.3 about a catch states:

"The key part, in terms of positioning, is the fielder's first contact with the ball during the passage of play.

"The fielder's first contact with the ball must be made inside the boundary. If he is airborne when making this first contact, he must have taken off from within the boundary.

"The ball then can be fielded or caught, as long as the fielder is never in contact with both the ball and the ground outside the boundary at the same time.

"So, on a second or third contact with the ball, the fielder can jump up from beyond the boundary and parry it back inside. He can do this as many times as he wants, as long as he is never in contact with the ground beyond the boundary while he is touching the ball."

The law changed in October 2013 and we're very thankful it did, otherwise we wouldn't be watching Billings' catch!

Topics: Cricket, England, Cricket News

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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