Ball of century, Starc to Vince

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/42377115



It is being described as the ball of the century.

Admittedly, there's still a long time to go - but Mitchell Starc's delivery to remove James Vince on day four of the third Ashes Test was something special.

The left-armer went round the wicket, delivered a 90mph ball on a good length and watched it rip out Vince's off stump.

Replays showed the ball, which hit a crack, would have gone down the leg side had it carried on its natural path. Instead, it left Vince's off stick uprooted.

"That absolutely splattered the stumps," said former England spinner Vic Marks on Test Match Special. "It was like a 90mph bit of left-arm spin.

"I think we can give Vince licence there. How do you play that? It was an absolute cracker."

Shane Warne, holder of the unofficial award for 'ball of the 20th century' for his dismissal of Mike Gatting in 1993, asked his social media followers if it was the best delivery they had seen since 2000.

Legendary Pakistan bowler Wasim Akram - himself a master of left-arm swing - weighed in too.


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It doesn't really count if it hits a crack does it? I mean, there must be a whole bunch of balls from Ashwin or RJ that have rolled and hit the stumps in recent years.

It did look hella grouse though.

And in any case, I don't think it was better than this ball:

Unplayable, but once it hits the cracks, it adds venom that the bowlers wasn't solely responsible for.

JGK wrote:And in any case, I don't think it was better than this ball:

This was tidy from earlier in that series. A toss up between the two, with Chef left shaking his head both times:

Unplayable and looked amazing but I'm hesitant to call a delivery that was going down leg side on it's original trajectory "Ball of the century" just because it hit a crack.

If Starc was aiming for that specific crack with the intention of it hitting off stump like that then I'll happily concede it to be the best ball ever bowled but I somehow doubt it was what he was going for.

Jaffa, but a lucky one, unlike Warne's Gatting ball for example.

Yup, vilks. Went from tripe to grouse in a blink. I doubt Koo's intent had anything to do with it.

For mine, the ball of the century is Warne v Strauss, Edgbaston, 2005.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb9N0vlUFys

warne to kp ...adelaide

Perhaps there needs to be a separate "non-Warne" ball of the century category...