AMERICA has seen Steve Smith in flight and America is on board.

The Australian captain’s jaw-dropping catch during Australia’s win over New Zealand in the first one-dayer against New Zealand at the SCG has both perplexed and enthralled sports fans across the USA.

Smith’s dirt-chomping, strained, sweet clunker to remove Kiwi keeper BJ Watling off the bowling of Mitch Marsh to leave the Black Caps 4/140 has been celebrated as a thing of beauty by an American audience excited to dip its toes into the foreign waters of international cricket.

The highlight video of Smith’s ripper featured on several national sporting websites in The States, leading to some fascinating commentary from clueless cricketing first-timers.

USA Today’s Luke Kerr-Dineen almost had to resort to brawling Batman sound effects to describe the 27-year-old’s catch.

“You may not understand cricket but wow this is a good catch,” Kerr-Dineen wrote.

“Right? It happened in a One Day International match between Australia and New Zealand, which Australia cruised to 324-8 (50) to New Zealand 256 (44.2).

“That may not mean anything to you, and that’s fine, because holy cow batman look at this catch.”

Sports Illustrated celebrated the Aussie batsman’s handy work by ranking his effort better than anything produced by Baltimore Ravens receiver Steve Smith this season.

“Here in the United States we’re used to seeing guys named Steve Smith make impressive catches, but nothing compares to what Australian cricketer Steve Smith did on Sunday against New Zealand,” si.com’s Dan Gartland wrote.

“Kiwi batsman BJ Watling fought off a ball that came flying toward Smith, who dove [sic] all-out and grabbed the ball with one hand, despite smashing his face against the turf.”

Deadspin’s Emma Baccellieri labelled Smith’s effort “completely sick”.

“Today’s cricket match between Australia and New Zealand was a big win for the Aussies, letting them keep their number one spot in the one-day international rankings,” she wrote.

“It also included this completely sick one-handed diving catch from Australia team captain Steve Smith. And that catch wasn’t even the best part of Smith’s match, though it definitely made for the flashiest highlight. He also set a Sydney Cricket Ground record today with 164 runs, contributing to a final score of Australia 324-8 and New Zealand 256.”

James Dator, writing for sbnation.com, described Smith’s catch as “one of the best cricket catches ever”.

“Australian Steve Smith was fielding in the gully when a blinding shot came off the bat of BJ Watling, who was stunned when he realised his near-perfect shot was caught,” he wrote.

“Crowds applauded in real time, then absolutely lost it when they saw exactly what happened in slow motion.

“The TV camera barely kept up with the action.”

Smith’s freakish play was also the top story on social news site reddit.com.

Here’s a brief list of the top comments:

— “I’m not a fan of cricket, at all. But damn, son. That was some badass athleticism right there,” Reddit user Ched wrote.

— “This game doesn’t make sense but I’m impressed with how happy everyone is that he caught that,” user EvilMortyc137 wrote.

— “If this was NFL it would be reviewed and replayed ad infinitum and they would probably decide that there was no sufficient evidence that the ball was caught before touching the ground and therefore THE RULING ON THE FIELD STANDS. Oh wait,” user godsenfrik wrote.

— “That was an awesome catch, but why is that guy wearing a cowboy hat at the start? Is that standard,” user justamindatwork questioned the presence of the on-field umpire.

— “This was awesome. I could really get into watching some more Paddle Ball,” user throwitupwatchitfall wrote.

Smith’s beaut also created plenty of chatter on Twitter.

Retweeting for baseball fans unfamiliar with cricket. How's that catch? No glove, ball similar to a baseball. https://t.co/CKbdoe6tm5 — Elizabeth Cage (@elizabethcage) December 4, 2016

I don't know anything about cricket but this is bonkers! / Look At This Great One-Handed Cricket Catch https://t.co/4eqB2IW03m — (((Eric Kohli))) (@EKohli) December 4, 2016

That barehanded cricket catch on reddit isn't as impressive as Derek Jeter falling into the stands. Sorry Aussies — Michael Miranti (@MikeMiranti) December 4, 2016

If You Watch One Cricket Highlight This Year, Make It This Amazing Catch https://t.co/Jk3ZTFGylh — Digg Video (@DiggVideo) December 4, 2016

Confused cricket newbies would surely have been even more impressed upon hearing Smith’s incredible premonition leading up to his magic moment.

Smith has revealed he had a vision he was about to do something special before taking one of the most remarkable catches in recent memory.

It took just 0.6 seconds for the ball to fly off Watling’s bat to backward point where Smith was fielding, but he managed to lunge sideways and pluck it out of the air with his left hand.

What made the catch even better was the way Smith held on to it as he landed heavily face-first.

“I actually had a really good feeling I was going to get that ball,” Smith said.

“It was a bit bizarre. I was ready for it and it came pretty quick.

“I got into a good position. It’s one of those ones that sticks or it doesn’t and fortunately it stuck this time.” It capped a memorable performance from Smith, who smashed a ground-record 164 to guide his side to a 68-run victory.

Black Caps century maker Martin Guptill, who was at the non-striker’s end when Smith took his screamer, said he could only look on and applaud.

“There’s not too many in world cricket that can take that and it just went straight into his left mitt,” Guptill said.

“Hats off to him.”

— with AAP