Ball of the century, 20 today!
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 3:47 am
The most celebrated cricket delivery of all time - Shane Warne's 'Ball of the Century' to Mike Gatting - is 20 years old today and its victim is still searching for answers.
The burly England batsman was on that day at Old Trafford near the end of an international career that spanned 79 Tests and 17 years and, hitherto, had marked him as a master combatant of spin bowling.
Warne's stunning leg break on that Saturday afternoon in Manchester would change his life, however, and that of an emerging Australian cricketer who was before then positioned in relative obscurity on the international scene. It was the now legendary leg-spinner's first ball in an Ashes series and it reverberates two decades on, as Australia ready themselves for another tilt in England.
"We'd seen a few bits and pieces of him but nothing special," Gatting told the Daily Mail. "We thought we'd have a look at him, see what he's about and what he could do but 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. I was more worried about being bowled around the back of my legs.
Shane Warne bowling during the Australian tour of England in 1993. Photo: Getty Images
"The captain, Graham Gooch, was down the other end. When we talked about it, he said I needn't have worried about that because my backside was too big for the ball to get past, so it wasn't very sympathetic!
"I 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!"
Richie Benaud's live commentary summed up Gatting's incredulity.
"Gatting has absolutely no idea what has happened to it. Still doesn't know," went the Benaud call as Warne pumped a first, jumped and pointed. "He asked [umpire] Kenny Palmer on the way out. Kenny Palmer just gave him the raised eyebrow and a little nod. That's all it needed."
Australia's captain at the time, Allan Border, recalls not realising exactly how special the Warne ball was until later in the day. "It's amazing, in the field I wasn't aware of how good a ball that was," Border said on Tuesday.
"I was fielding out at a catching cover...so you don't know how good it is. I think 'Heals' [Ian Healy] said 'that was unbelievable' and a few of the guys that could see from where they were fielding knew. But me personally I didn't realise until the break until I actually saw some footage of it...then I thought 'that's a big start Warnie'.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/two ... z2VDQvqIIr
