Many people love to play and watch cricket and, this is the best time to entertain yourself. When the players play their innings, many incidents happen on the field. Sometimes the ball slips out of the fielder's hand, or the fielder himself falls to the ground, which makes it funny, though not as fun as it can lead to injury to players. There have been some funny dropped catches in cricket which have made fans and cricketers happy. Below is the list of the ten Funniest Dropped Catches in Cricket History:
1. Mike Gatting Versus India
England batsman Mike Gatting became the center of attention when he dropped the easiest of catches on the ground while playing against India in 1993. Kiran More, at the crease, had some difficulty in facing the ball and the ball hit his glove. It was a simple catch for Gatting, but he dropped it. Later he was looking at the sun and blaming the rays.
2. Kiran More Versus England
Graham Gooch was batting at 36 when he tried to smash the ball, but instead, his bat touched the ball, and the ball turned and went towards the wicketkeeper. The catch was easy to take, but More missed it and dropped the catch. Later, he blamed the movement of the pitch, which caused him to drop the catch. Given an opportunity, Gooch scored 333 runs in that match.
3. Saed Ajmal Versus West Indies
A funny incident happened on the field during the match between Pakistan and West Indies. When West Indies batsman Chris Gayle was at the crease, he hit the ball for a six, but unfortunately, the ball did not travel the distance. It was a simple catch for Saeed Ajmal, but seeing the ball hit the ground, he backed away and stood up. Later he said that he felt that Shoaib Malik would take the catch, so he backed down.
4. Herschelle Gibbs Versus Australia
An early celebration went wrong! In a match between South Africa and Australia, another funny incident took place. When Steve Waugh was batting on 36, he hit the ball with an intention to send it outside the boundary, but the ball went into the hands of Gibbs. Gibbs threw the ball from his hand in excitement as soon as he took the catch and the umpire declared him not out. Waugh, who was 36 at the time of the dropped catch, scored 101 runs and won the game for his team.
5. Salman Butt Versus New Zealand
Since Pakistani players are already famous for poor and sloppy fielding, an easy catch was dropped in a Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan. When the batsman tried to hit the ball, he could not hit the ball properly and gave a simple catch to Salman Butt, who made several attempts to catch the ball but failed in the end and dropped the catch. This catch was recorded as one of the funniest catches dropped in history.
6. Joe Denly Versus New Zealand
This strange catch-drop happened between the two biggest rivals, England, and New Zealand, in 2019 while playing their second Test match. Jofra Archer bowled a wonderful delivery to New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, who tried to hit the ball outside. Land but could not. Due to not hitting the ball well, Williamson almost lost his wicket when Denly dropped his catch, allowing Williamson to score more runs. Denly's clumsy attempts to catch the ball brought smiles to the faces of Archer and his teammates as they could not believe what they had just seen.
7. Michael Hussey Versus South Africa
Another funny incident happened in the Test match between South Africa and Australia. Dale Steyn was at the crease, and he tried to smash the ball. The ball hit the corner of his bat and almost went into the hands of Hussey, who misjudged the direction of the ball, and when the ball fell, it did not hit his hands but landed a few yards away from him. Since high catches are difficult to assess, his teammates pat him on the back and leave with a smile.
8. Umar Akmal Versus West Indies
Another funny catch-drop incident happened between West Indies and Pakistan while playing an ODI match. West Indies struggled to score runs, and Darren Sammy was at the crease. As soon as he tried to hit Saeed Ajmal's ball, he could not succeed and almost gave a simple catch to the fielder. As soon as the ball hit Sammy's bat, Ajmal ran to catch him, and while catching the ball, he had a strange incident with wicketkeeper Umar Akmal. The two clashed and blamed each other for dropping the catch. This brought smiles at the faces of West Indies fans and players as they were in no position to lose another wicket.
9. Steve Waugh Versus India
In a match between Australia and India, spectators witnessed a strange incident of dropped catches on the field. Sachin Tendulkar was at the crease; he misjudged the ball and almost lost his wicket. Steve Waugh bowled an amazing ball, and while taking Tendulkar's catch, he stumbled and missed the catch. Allan Border could not believe what he had just seen and knelt, facing the ground.
10. Michael Vaughan Versus Australia
In the match between Australia and England, everyone saw one of the funniest catches missed in cricket history. While batting, Matthew Hayden tried to hit the ball but missed, and almost got caught by Vaughan. Vaughan came running towards the ball with his hands towards the sky. He wanted to catch the ball in style but failed to do so and he dropped the catch. The captain could not believe his eyes and left smiling.
