Paul Coughlin might have taken what we can the best caught & bowled dismissal in the history of cricket during the clash between Durham and Lancashire in the ongoing edition of the T20 Blast at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street. Even England's red-ball captain Ben Stokes was in absolute awe at the sight of the freak catch and his reaction said that he was in complete disbelief of the moment.
Paul Coughlin's catch steals show
Taking catches during their follow-through is never an easy task for the Pacers and it gets more dangerous when the batter actually hits the ball with a lot of strength behind it. During, this time bowlers usually get out of the way of the ball to avoid injuries but Coughlin created a historic moment.
Durham were defending a target of 219 runs against Lancashire but despite that they were the ones under pressure because of Matthew Hurst's explosive approach. In the seventh over, Alex Lees brought Coughlin into the attack in the hope of a breakthrough. Hurst hit two consecutive boundaries after getting the strike and he was going for a hat-trick of fours but on the fourth ball, he went down the track and tried to hit the ball past the bowler but Coughlin's superhuman reflex kicked in and he responded within a fraction of second to take a blinder with a single hand. The catch soon became a sensation on the internet.
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Ben Stokes reacts to the catch
The video of Paul Coughlin's catch went viral on the internet at a rapid pace even English Test skipper Ben Stokes could not control himself to react to the catch. He retweeted the video of the catch from his official ‘X’ account formerly known as Twitter. He wrote “What the heck…joke that” while captioning the clip.
Durham eventually won the match by just 2 runs. However, Lancashire put up a great fight. Paul Coughlin had the task of defending 21 runs in the final over and despite getting smashed for 18 runs in that over, he managed to ensure his team's win.
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