Best delivery you have seen

[dial_100]

Ans is...... Alll of the above..... ;) winks

[Predator_05]

Ultimately , isnt this all just contextual ? A ball is only as good as the batsman allows it to be...

Not true. Good balls will always take wickets not matter what the batsman does.

[King]

The best delivery lies in the eye of the beholder. It is impossible to pick one delivery as the best ever in the history of cricket.

[Ram]

Not true. Good balls will always take wickets not matter what the batsman does.

I am not sure.. Lets take for example a ball pitched on good length on middle stump taking the top of off stump -- the dream ball for any bowler. This ball is almost impossible to negotiate if a batsmen plays conventionally, ie with a a straight bat and down the middle stump line. What if , the batsman backed away towards off-stump and tried to hoick the ball above fine leg ? In this case , this type of ball is almost perfectly suited to execute this shot.. If the above argument is bought , i would like to think that yorkers are possibly the most diffcult ones to negotiate. From personal experience , i have found that its easy for me to have a swipe at length balls , whether they swung and moved off the seam or not. Its well directed yorkers that i have the maximum trouble against ! For example - If only a lefthander had been facing warne instead of either Gatting or Gibbs, trust me they wouldnt have been labelled the greatest balls ever delivered.

[King]

One question for those that continue to say Warnie's ball to Gatting the best in history. Do you guys reckon Laxman or Tendulkar would have been out in a similar fashion if they had to face a similar ball from Warnie?

[Ram]

One question for those that continue to say Warnie's ball to Gatting the best in history. Do you guys reckon Laxman or Tendulkar would have been out in a similar fashion if they had to face a similar ball from Warnie?

Exactly ! The batsman play a big role in making the ball look as good/bad as it seemed to the viewer..

[Predator_05]

I am not sure.. Lets take for example a ball pitched on good length on middle stump taking the top of off stump -- the dream ball for any bowler. This ball is almost impossible to negotiate if a batsmen plays conventionally' date=' ie with a a straight bat and down the middle stump line. What if , the batsman backed away towards off-stump and tried to hoick the ball above fine leg ? In this case , this type of ball is almost perfectly suited to execute this shot.. [/quote'] Good deliveries create indecision in the mind of the batsmen and force them to react in a particular (often predictable) way. No batsman would ever dare attempt a shot like that since they read the ball earlier and within a second, know which shot they will play against that particular ball. That is the essence of a great ball - luring the batsman into thinking it will behave one way, but ultimately it does something different. The "what if" argument doesn't apply

[Ram]

That is the essence of a great ball - luring the batsman into thinking it will behave one way' date=' but ultimately it does something different. The "what if" argument doesn't apply[/quote'] No doubting this statement... however , this holds true only if the batsman reacts in the way the bowler hoped he would react. ie -- rooted to the crease , playing down the wrong line.. Remember Douglas Marillier against Zaheer ?? Those length balls pitching on off stump swinging to hit middle stump would have been a tough challenge to batsman in ordinary circumstances. But douglas played in such a way that all the good things bout thos balls were absolutely negated. It was now a question of Lets-hope-douglas misses..

[Anakin]

One question for those that continue to say Warnie's ball to Gatting the best in history. Do you guys reckon Laxman or Tendulkar would have been out in a similar fashion if they had to face a similar ball from Warnie?

I was gonna ask that, but thought I might piss someone off even more :haha: In fact I've seen Warney taking wickets spinning more than that ball, that ball might've had more impact on the psyche of the english though. I loved that spell by Ambrose against the OZs taking 7/1. Freddie's that superb over against Ponting, getting him eventually. Chucky's ball to RD has been already mentioned. Pathan's yorker to Gilly and another one taking off the middle stump of Afridi are memorable too.

[kumble_rocks]

I was gonna ask that, but thought I might piss someone off even more :haha:

:wink_smile::wink_smile: Warne considers this ball his best ever. Check the video I pasted below. BTW, Ganguly would have played the ball with ease !:haha:

[kumble_rocks]

One question for those that continue to say Warnie's ball to Gatting the best in history. Do you guys reckon Laxman or Tendulkar would have been out in a similar fashion if they had to face a similar ball from Warnie?

Ravi, Mike Gatting was considered a superb player of spin bowling. He tormented the Indians and our spin attack. He had a career average of 55 against India from 16 tests. Jesus, remember the context of the match .This was Warne's first ashes and boy the look on Gatting's face says it all. Laxman struggled against Danish kaneria during the Pak series. Plus he is shaky starter with feet movement initially. So , I won't be surprised if he was out in a similar fashion.Even Tendulkar would have been out in a similar fashion he if had to face the ball first up. BTW, I watched it live on TV and man , I was zapped. Forget me, you can hear it from horse's mouth here . Warne considers this ball his best ever. [googlevideo]-8735581696703543175&q=shane+warne&hl=en[/googlevideo]

[King]

Sorry KR can't buy that argument. Anyone including the likes of Richie Benaud when they say it is the ball of the century they are just hyping. I have watched this delivery so many times I can't be convinced. Yes Gatting was a good batter against spin bowling and Warnie spun that a mile but to say that's the best ever is like saying none has turned the ball that big. You are picking one ball as the ball of the century despite watching so many balls bowled, I'm really surprised. In fact Warnie has bowled much better ones than that one too. I've watched the DVD in the above video many times and still I'll say I can't pick that one as the best of the century as the Aussie media wants you to believe. The Aussie media knows to sell their stuff really well. I'm not going to buy into this one at all. Some of the doosras Murali or even Harbhajan has bowled will blind you. You only have to look really. Even some of the offies Murali has bowled is way better than that ball. Wasim Akram has bowled so many deliveries that defies physics but they aren't even talked about. I will upload some of them soon for you to have a look. You can then decide for yourself.

[The Outsider]

Warne's "ball of the century" to Gatting is contextual. There have been many more better deliveries bowled but that was surely one of the most influential ones.

[yoda]

Not true. Good balls will always take wickets not matter what the batsman does.

Not true. Many players simply can't negotiate the sharp inswingers while others negotiate them perfectly fine. Many can't let go the Mcgrath type outswingers and will fish to the slips while many others will have the discipline to let go. What you say is true for some of the truly "unplayable" deliveries, but those are very rare. I don't classify the warne delivery as one of them. It was a beauty, no doubt.

[kumble_rocks]

Sorry KR can't buy that argument. Anyone including the likes of Richie Benaud when they say it is the ball of the century they are just hyping. I have watched this delivery so many times I can't be convinced. Yes Gatting was a good batter against spin bowling and Warnie spun that a mile but to say that's the best ever is like saying none has turned the ball that big. You are picking one ball as the ball of the century despite watching so many balls bowled, I'm really surprised. In fact Warnie has bowled much better ones than that one too. I've watched the DVD in the above video many times and still I'll say I can't pick that one as the best of the century as the Aussie media wants you to believe. The Aussie media knows to sell their stuff really well. I'm not going to buy into this one at all. Some of the doosras Murali or even Harbhajan has bowled will blind you. You only have to look really. Even some of the offies Murali has bowled is way better than that ball. Wasim Akram has bowled so many deliveries that defies physics but they aren't even talked about. I will upload some of them soon for you to have a look. You can then decide for yourself.

I agree with you on one thing which is , what I consider best delivery may not be appealing at all to some other.All these discussions are subjective and invariably what I term subjective bias creeps into the discussion. I have to add that ,I have followed cricket for long time .Even , on the best bowling pair thread , I wanted to post more but refrained from doing so because all these discussions can be subjective. Heck , I don't even consider Walsh a potent strike bowler except during the start of his career. And Ambrose could hardly swing the ball like waqar or wasim. This is not my opinion , even the great Andy Roberts said the same thing about Ambrose.But , I respect the choice of many knowlegeable posters here who feel they are the best. After all , they have the stats to prove it.

[Holysmoke]

Sorry KR can't buy that argument. Anyone including the likes of Richie Benaud when they say it is the ball of the century they are just hyping. I have watched this delivery so many times I can't be convinced. Yes Gatting was a good batter against spin bowling and Warnie spun that a mile but to say that's the best ever is like saying none has turned the ball that big. You are picking one ball as the ball of the century despite watching so many balls bowled, I'm really surprised. In fact Warnie has bowled much better ones than that one too. I've watched the DVD in the above video many times and still I'll say I can't pick that one as the best of the century as the Aussie media wants you to believe. The Aussie media knows to sell their stuff really well. I'm not going to buy into this one at all. Some of the doosras Murali or even Harbhajan has bowled will blind you. You only have to look really. Even some of the offies Murali has bowled is way better than that ball. Wasim Akram has bowled so many deliveries that defies physics but they aren't even talked about. I will upload some of them soon for you to have a look. You can then decide for yourself.

Ravi, was it you who had posted the video about how wasim akram swung the yorker prodigiously away from the batsman while bowling round the wicket?

[kumble_rocks]

Ravi' date=' was it you who had posted the video about how wasim akram swung the yorker prodigiously away from the batsman while bowling round the wicket?[/quote'] Are you talking about Alan Lamb getting bowled by Akram. I posted that and it was in WC 1992 finals.

[Holysmoke]

Are you talking about Alan Lamb getting bowled by Akram. I posted that and it was in WC 1992 finals.

No, this is different. It was an LBW shout, which the Umpire did not give.

[The Outsider]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-AiDT1Z0Tc

[dial_100]

Well... Reason that they are considered best balls because whatever little time batsman has to make a decision about reading the speed of the ball, its line and length considering pitch conditions, weather, wind is more than enough. Now bowler has to exploit using all this for batsman to make a mistake. Just imagine, a delivery bowled at 130kph leaves batsman with 1/4 of a second to make a decision. But same deliver with 150 speed would leave at the most 1/5 of a second to make a decision. Same thing with a spin bowling from Warne, he bowls it way outside the leg stump. We can say approximately a yard from the off stump line and pitched about 2 yards from the stumps or a yard from the creaze. It is impossible to stay in place and play that ball. One has to move out side of leg stump a bit and play. I remember SRT used to do that to him so he stopped bowlling him that leg side bowl. I think it is one of the best if not the best of all.