“How anyone can spin a ball the width of Gatting boggles the mind” – Martin Johnson

“If it had been a cheese roll, it would never have got past him” – Graham Gooch, in reply

On a tame Friday morning in Stretford, Old Trafford would witness its greatest cricketing moment since Jim Laker’s 19 wicket match in 1956, slightly outranking a 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar scoring his maiden Test century in 1990.

On Day 2 of the 1st Ashes test of 1993, Shane Keith Warne, a 23-year-old fat blonde leg spinner on his Ashes debut, who had been smacked stupid by Graeme Hick in a tour match against Worcestershire a month earlier (1-122 off 23 overs), comes into the attack to face Mike Gatting, noted dominator of spin bowling, with England sitting comfortably at 1-80 in reply to Australia’s modest 289.

What happened next marked the start of the next chapter of English torture at the hands of Australian cricketers, which lasted another 13 years, as Warne delivered THE BALL OF THE CENTURY.

“Gatting has absolutely no idea what happened to it, he still doesn’t know!” – Richie Benaud

The moment the stumps went flying was perfectly captured by Steve Lindsell, as Ian Healy jumps in celebration, while Gatting looks in shock at the delivery that had the perfect blend of length, pace and spin… THE GATTING BALL.

A moment in cricketing history that (almost) single-handedly revived the ancient art of leg spin bowling after decades of pace bowling domination, and more importantly ruined England’s hopes of victory, as Warne finished his opening spell with 3 for 14 from 9 overs after claiming Robin Smith and Gooch, the hosts were subsequently bowled out for 210 as Warne finished with 4-51, then completed his Man of the Match performance with another 4 wickets in the 2nd Innings (4-92) as Australia won by 179 runs, which also featured Gooch’s dismissal for handling the ball on 133 facing Merv Hughes, the only handling the ball dismissal to ever occur in an Ashes test.

Still, if you ask me, the Ball of the Century wasn’t even Warnie’s best ball in England, because during that 1993 Ashes, he sublimely cleaned up Gooch around his legs in the 5th Test at Edgbaston:

And of course, there was THE STRAUSS BALL, also at Edgbaston, in 2005:

But stuff them for now, because the BALL OF THE CENTURY has turned 30.