5 Instances when cricketers celebrated prematurely

4. Herschelle Gibbs

Even after 21 years of this incident, there are only a handful of cricket fans who may not remember this. This incident took place during a super six match at the ICC Cricket World Cup 1999. Even though it was only a drop catch, in the context of the tournament, this moment had a lot of significance.

Australia was playing against South Africa and fighting for a semi-final spot. The proteas put a huge score on the board and the Aussies were struggling. Australian captain Steve Waugh was trying his best to keep his team alive in the competition when he by mistake chipped one ball in the air.

Herschelle Gibbs grabbed the catch quite comfortably, but in an attempt to throw it in the air and celebrate, the ball slipped from his hand. The umpire ruled it in the favour of the batsman as Gibbs didn’t have the ball long enough to call it a catch.

Waugh went on to score a magnificent century and seal a spot for his side in the semi-finals. What more, the semi-final clash between South Africa and Australia got tied. As the Aussies had beaten the Proteas in the previous round, they got an opportunity to enter the final. The dropped catch by Herschelle Gibbs hence became an infamous memory for the Proteas cricket.