When a thundering six from Black Caps batsman Colin Munro was heading towards Clarke de Malmanche on the bank at Bay Oval, he thought to himself: "I might have this for $50,000" in the Tui Catch a Million promotion.

After the ball slammed into his left hand and bounced into his right, he claimed the "catch" to the delight of the crowd on the bank. For a few delirious minutes he thought he had won the cash.

But reality arrived shortly after in the form of an official from the sponsors. To win the money the catch had to be taken clearly in one hand, not deflected from one hand to the other.

"I guess I should have read the fine print," the man from Putaruru said ruefully.

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But he had no regrets, despite coming as close as anyone in the Twenty20 series to successfully nabbing the cash windfall.

"At first I couldn't believe it. I jumped up and I had it in my hand but I didn't immediately think of the 50,000. It was just a bigger surprise to me to have caught it than anything."

De Malmanche was left with a bruised hand and a memory of what might have been.

He was one of several unlucky punters whose catching failures cost them cash last night at the Mt Maunganui match.

The first missed chance came as a group of men stumbled towards a ball as it dropped towards the crowd.

There was a lot of grasping and grappling but no one got a hand on the leather.

After De Malmanche's miss, another man hurled himself into the fray for his chance to catch some catch - but ended up falling onto a woman sitting in front of him.

The fall upset her partner and, for a few seconds, it looked like an altercation was possible.

Simon Smith, spokesman for DB Breweries, which makes Tui, said safety was the "number one priority" in the competition.

He had been watching the game on TV and had seen several unsafe catching attempts.

Smith had called to ask the MC at the ground to make further announcements calling for people to take more care when attempting catches and be aware of the space around them.

"We're just trying to say to people catching to look out for people around you - especially families and kids."

The competition's terms and conditions include a clause saying the promoter will not be liable for any damage or injury incurred by any participant.

"[That could be] if it hits their hand, or they miss the catch and are hit on the head - people have been known to do that," he said.

"We are mindful that the prize on offer for a one-handed catch is undoubtedly adding to the enthusiasm for fans in the stands, however crowd safety is paramount and we would like to reiterate that fans should consider a safe approach when attempting to take a catch, especially when around other spectators.

"We have worked closely with New Zealand Cricket and the stadiums to ensure every effort has been taken for fans safety and have planned for contingencies, but It's never worth risking an injury to yourself or others for $50,000."

Smith said the match MC and the ground announcer made regular safety messages over the PA system to the crowd.

"Since seeing the crowd's enthusiasm tonight we have spoken to both the MC and announcer and got them to increase the number of announcements and reiterate the safety messages - which they will keep doing over the course of the evening," he said.

"We have also spoken to Sky and they have also reiterated the safety message to viewers."