Astunning piece of fielding set the tone at The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, on September 27, 2026, as Cooper Connolly pouched a one-handed catch at cover-point to remove Aiden Markram off the very first delivery of the 2nd ODI between South Africa and Australia.
FanCode shared the clip on X, capturing the moment in full. Josh Hazlewood banged the ball in short of a length outside off-stump, and it climbed sharply on Markram. The South Africa batter threw his hands at the delivery with no intention of keeping it along the ground, and the ball flew towards the cover region.
Markram joins an unwanted South African list
Connolly, positioned at cover-point, launched himself and plucked the ball cleanly out of the air with his left hand. South Africa were reduced to 0 for 1 without a run on the board, and the Wanderers fell silent almost immediately after the first ball was bowled.
Australia captain Mitchell Marsh had won the toss and elected to bowl first. The decision paid off instantly, with Hazlewood striking in the opening delivery of the innings. Australia came into the match having fallen short in their chase of 298 runs in the 1st ODI on September 24, 2026.
Markram’s return to the side made the dismissal particularly notable. He last played an ODI on December 6, 2025, against India, and his last T20I was on March 4, 2026, against New Zealand. South Africa reshuffled their batting order in the 1st ODI to cover his absence, which he cited as personal.
Connolly’s catch and the match situation
With this golden duck, Markram became the sixth South African batter to be dismissed on the first ball of an ODI. It was also the first time in his career that he had been dismissed off the opening delivery of an ODI innings.
The five South Africans dismissed on the first ball of an ODI before Markram were Herschelle Gibbs against James Franklin in Brisbane in 2002, Gibbs again against Wasim Akram in Tangier in 2002, Hashim Amla against Doug Bollinger in Gqeberha in 2011, Amla against Mohammed Irfan in Durban in 2013, and Janneman Malan against Mitchell Starc in Paarl in 2020.