Inspiring tale behind epic crowd catch

Blake Ashworth rightly received a rapturous reception when he took a brilliant crowd catch at Optus Stadium on Thursday night, but it turns out his story is far more remarkable than just his hand-eye coordination.

As the Scorchers slid to a comprehensive defeat, Ashworth's impressive front-row grab in Hobart's innings proved to be a rare highlight on an otherwise disappointing night for the parochial home crowd, with 52,960 passionate Perth locals packing into the new venue.

Facing Jhye Richardson in the penultimate over, Ben McDermott picked up one of his six maximums with a cheeky paddle scoop over fine leg, the ball flying over the fence and straight into the hands of Ashworth, who took an impressive grab above his head.

It wasn't the only catch taken in the stands on a night when 14 sixes were hit, but the crowd celebrated the catch as if McDermott had been dismissed.

And they no doubt would have continued their applause if they'd been aware of Ashworth's inspirational tale.

Seven years ago, the now 27-year-old was diagnosed with brain cancer, and he's since spent the entirety of his twenties overcoming an astonishing ten bouts of the vicious illness.

"I had a headache when I was 20 which got worse and worse and worse to the point where it was constant," he told cricket.com.au.

"I’d have to hold my head in pain and stop what I was doing.

"Finally Mum convinced me to go and have a CT scan and 45 minutes after arriving home from the scan I got a call telling me I had a growth in my head."

After emergency surgery that lasted 12 hours, the growth was removed from its awkward position right in the centre of Blake’s head.

"I had some radiation and I was all good, until three months later another three spots popped up in my spine and I had to have more radiation," he explained.

"I got rid of it with more radiation and then another one came back in my head, and from there the next five years has been back and forth like a yo-yo."

Elated with his catch and positive about his hardships, the boy from the suburb of Kenwick has an incredible perspective on the situation.

"I just keep going. It's the only way to be," he said.

"You can’t sook about it because there’s someone worse off than me. It’s out of my control so I’ve just got to try and make the most of it."

Like many Australian children, Ashworth grew up balancing both footy and cricket in alternating seasons, but the high level of radiation has restricted his ability to play the former.

"I can’t play my favourite sport anymore which is footy," he said.

"And I’m spewing about that, but I can still play cricket."

Ashworth's resilience and mental toughness has also filtered down to others suffering a similar plight; he volunteered for CanTeen after receiving his diagnosis in 2011, stepping aside from his day job as a plumber.

"Work’s been really good about it, they’ve held my position through all of the time off and have just told me to come to work when I can," he said.

"I think it’s just my attitude, it’s always just been really positive, I’ve just stayed strong for my family and friends.

"You obviously have a few bad days but I can count those on two hands across the seven years which is pretty good I think."

As Blake continues to juggle the demands of work and medical appointments, Thursday night's catch was a moment he’ll never forget.

"You always think about what are you going to do if you take a crowd catch, but in the moment it was all a blur," he said with a laugh.

"I thought it was a pretty good catch, it was definitely the highlight of the night for me. I’m just glad I caught it."