I put it to you that Shane Warne's 'Ball of the century' was nothing but!
For me - 'THAT BALL' was a a great ball but not the best of the last centruy by any means. I mean for one, the ball pitched outside leg stump - and any reasonable batsman could have padded the ball away with no fear of being LBW! It was the ineptness of the batsman that made the delivery look greater than it was.
When you consider the occasion and the delivery - only one ball comes to mind and truly deserves the title of 'The Ball of the Century' and in my mind it is no doubt that one delivered from the left hand of Wasim Akram to England's Allan Lamb in the 92 WC final. The occasion was the biggest in World Cricket - the World Cup final. The bal itself did everything right , and so did the batsman...but still he was defeated all ends up!
In the biggest game of a cricketers life, Akram in front of 88,000 people in the stadium and billions on TV drew Lamb into a front foot defensive shot; the batsman had no option but to play forward and try defend - but the ball was too good. It swung way over the outside of the bat and clipped the off stump after having probably pitched middle - it also turnt the game!!! All hopes Eng had of fightining back in the game went down with that delivery to Lamb by Wasim. Has anyone ever seen a more perfect ball? I doubt it
I'd go as far as to say that even Superman couldnt have bowled anything better!!!!! |
