Ashes Special - Shane Warne Ball of the Century

The legendary Australian spinner started his Ashes journey in 1993 series at Old Trafford with a brilliant ball that later got the status of 'Ball of the Century".

It was 4th June 1993, England were looking in good position with 80/1 on the scoreboard. Australian Captain gave ball to Shane Warne who till then was an ordinary name in Australian playing XI. On his very first Ashes delivery, Shane Warne bowled Mike Gatting on a leg spin delivery. What a great start to a magnificient career. The beauty of this delivery was that it completly bemused Mike Gatting who was a good player of spin. The delivery was pitched just outside the line of leg stump and spun across to hit the top of Gatting's off stump. The England batsman stood motionless and can be best described by then commentator Richie Benaud's "Gatting has absolutely no idea what happened to it"! 

Warne took three more wickets in the innings including that of English captain Graham Gooch and Robin Smith to reduce them to 210 thereby giving an important lead of 79 runs. His magic continued in the second innings as well with 4 wickets to his name. England won the match by 179 runs and Shae Warne was awarded man of the match for his superb bowling performance.

Shane Warne Ball of the Century Video

Quotes

"​It was a remarkable delivery. There are people who think I should have padded it away but I never tried to lunge at a spinner.  had most of it covered and had ensured it would not get round the back of my legs and if it did anything else, I was in the right position to react, but it spun quickly as well as a long way. It was a leg break and I knew he had put a lot of revs on it and we knew the wicket might turn, but not that much".​ - Mike Getting
 
‘It was a magnificent delivery.​ It obviously turns a long way but the key to it was the way it dipped so quickly and pitched on such a great line just outside leg stump. As soon as he bowled it, I turned to him and said, “Shane, you will put your name in the record books”. By God, he didn’t half do that!’. - Dickie Bird​

Sahir