Watch: Sam Billings grabs bizarre catch, clutches ball between his legs during ENG vs NZ 3rd Test

There was certainly an element of fortune in the catch, but Sam Billings showed great reflexes to understand where the ball was.

Reaction speed is an essential aspect of good wicketkeeping, and England’s Sam Billings provided a great example of this to help dismiss Neil Wagner off Jack Leach’s bowling in third England vs New Zealand Test match, completing a weird but wonderful catch between his knees while standing up to the stumps.

Sam Billings manages to pull off a crazy catch against New Zealand(Twitter)

Billings was drafted in on Sunday as a Covid-19 replacement for Ben Foakes, who had started the match for England and is considered one of the finest glovemen in international cricket. Billings had to travel six hours to arrive in Leeds for the Test match, having originally been slated to captain Kent in their County Championship match against Surrey beginning the same day. However, he did not take long to get acclimatised to the match behind the stumps.

As Neil Wagner joined Tom Blundell at the crease, Jack Leach stepped up to bowl, having already taken 8 wickets in the match at Headingley. He got a thick edge from Wagner which bounced into Billings’s body and threatened to slip through — but Billings was quick, and got his knees together to trap the ball between his legs in a completely legal catch.

There was certainly an element of fortune in the catch, but Billings showed great reflexes to understand where the ball was, and great determination in ensuring it wouldn’t slip to the ground. It was a strange dismissal which left all the England fielders with wry smiles on their faces, knowing that Billings had gotten away with one there — but Leach wouldn’t complain, and would take Trent Boult’s wicket soon after to complete his 10-wicket haul for the match.

Billings made his Test debut in the final match of the Ashes in January and wasn’t originally selected for the squad against New Zealand. However, rules state that Covid replacements can only be like-for-like players, and Foakes had to be replaced by a wicketkeeper despite the presence of Jonny Bairstow in the playing XI.

England were set a target of 296 to chase in the fourth innings, but at stumps on day 4 were sitting comfortably on 183-2, with both Joe Root and Ollie Pope having crossed half-centuries.

Billings will have played a small but important role in a potential 3-0 whitewash over the world champions for the new-look England team under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.