Cricket World Cup: Daniel Vettori had three seconds to make spectacular catch

"If he'd been a tenth of a second later with his jump, that would have been another Samuels six." Photo / Getty Images

Daniel Vettori had a touch under three seconds to pull off his spectacular catch against the West Indies in Wellington on Saturday.

In that time he had to move to his left, judge the flight of a ball travelling about 90km/h and time his 60cm jump to within a quarter of a second. He didn't get it exactly right but still managed to claim one of the great catches.

Marcus Wilson, a physicist who lectures at Waikato University, estimated 3.2 seconds elapsed from the time Trent Boult's delivery left Marlon Samuels' bat to the time Vettori's heels landed on Wellington Regional Stadium turf with the ball clutched in his left hand.

"I reckon he jumped a fraction too late," said Dr Wilson. "In order for his hand to be in the right place to make a catch at full stretch, he's got about a quarter of a second window.

"If he jumps too soon, he'll be on his way down as the ball passes over his hand. If he jumps too early, he'll still be heading up when it passes his fingertips. In the case of this catch, he's a touch late on the jump and he just gets the ball in his fingertips as he's still rising. If he'd been a tenth of a second later with his jump, that would have been another Samuels six."

While photographs of the jump look spectacular, it's likely the 35-year-old Vettori jumped only about 60cm into the air. Netballers go higher.

Batting legend Nathan Astle took one of the great boundary catches in 2006 against the West Indies in Christchurch.

He said staying aware of the location of the boundary rope and maintaining balance is the key to taking that sort of catch but there is no real mystery to it. "You try to line yourself up as best you can and go from there."