Ball of the Century - Shane Warne Changes the Face of Cricket

The Ball of the Century refers to the leg spinShane Warne. Mike Gatting was already a legend of
delivery that Shane Warne bowled to Mike Gatting inthe game and well known for his expert batting
the 1993 Ashes series at Old Trafford, Manchester. Itagainst spin. No one expected Shane Warne to cause
was the first ball Shane Warne ever bowled to thehim any trouble.
English batsmen. The ball spectacularly bowled MikeThe delivery itself
Gatting and became significant not only in theShane Warne ran up to the wicket in his slow relaxed
context of the match itself or even the series but instyle and delivered what seemed like a normal leg
actually helping to revive the lost art of wrist spinspin delivery. Initially the ball seemed to be travelling
bowling.straight down the track. However, halfway in its
The UK's Channel 4 ran a poll in 2002 to find the 100travel the ball started to rapidly drift towards the leg
Greatest Sporting Moments. This delivery came in atside. This drift caused the ball to pitch a foot outside
number 92.of leg stump. Mike Gatting simply padded up to the
Backgroundball not expecting to be troubled. Even if the ball spun
The 1993 Ashes Series saw England field a fullback he did expect to be given LBW as the ball
strength team again for the first time since thepitched outside leg stump. However, the ball spun and
suspension of quite a few players touring Southbounced back so sharply that it shot past a bemused
Africa during the Apartheid era. Australia took theGatting and hit the top of off stump.
Ashes Urn in the 1990/91 season but England lookedThe aftermath
to seriously challenge Australia and reclaim the Ashes.Australia went on to win the test by 179 runs with
Old Trafford tradionally favours spin bowling andWarne picking up the man of the match award.
England picked two spinners, Phil Tufnell and PeterWarne continued hos devastating bowling throughout
Such, while Australia picked the unexperienced Shanethe series and took 34 wickets at an average of
Warne as their only spin bowler. Although Shane25.79 sharing the man of the series award with
Warne had shown promise at the start of his careerGraham Gooch.
it was nothing spectacular and many experts sawLegacy
wrist spin bowling as a redundant art in the modernThe ball of the century started a decade or more of
game.dominance by the Australian cricket team. Warne
Graham Gooch sent Australia in to bat and Australiawent on to become a legend of the game and voted
made 289 runs with Mark Taylor scoring a century.as one of the five cricketers of the 20th century.
England responded well and Mike Gatting came in atThe art of leg spin also became popular again and is
number three with England on 71/1. At this pointyet again firmly rooted in the modern game as an
Australian captain, Allan Border, brought on the youngessential skill for any team to have.