Shane Warne: Mike Gatting remembers Shane Warne’s ‘ball of the century’

Mike Gatting said he was “delighted” with the “ball of the century”, which launched Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne’s career as one of cricket’s greatest bowlers.

Warne died of a heart attack on Friday at the age of 52 in Koh Samui, Thailand.

Getting made this comment in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2013, the 20th anniversary of one of the most famous deliveries of all time.

Warne, making his Ashes debut at Manchester’s Old Trafford ground, pitched his first ball outside the leg-stump and then unceremoniously spun England batsman Gatting to clip him at the top of the off-bale.

Warne won six consecutive Ashes series, with 708 Test wickets, after helping whitewash the series 5–0 in Sydney in January 2007.

The late Richie Benaud, himself a former Australia leg-spinner, commented during his televised commentary: “Getting has absolutely no idea what happened to him – and he still doesn’t know.”

Gatting told the Daily Mail: “We saw some of it, but nothing special.”

“We thought we’d see him, see what he’s about and what he can do, but it was a remarkable delivery. There are people who think I should have pulled it off but I’ve never tried to lunge at a spinner. I was more concerned about throwing the ball in the back of my legs.

“I covered most of it and made sure it didn’t spin behind my legs and if it did anything else, I was in the right position to react, but it went fast as well as a long way It was a leg break and I knew he put a lot of revs on it and we knew the wicket could turn, but not that much!”

Legendary umpire Dickie Bird, who was on the bowler’s end when Warne falsely sent the ball down, still had what he said was “one of the best deliveries ever” during his 23 years of umpiring in international cricket.

“It was a great delivery,” Bird said. “It obviously goes a long way, but the key was the way it swung so quickly and pitched on such a big line outside leg stump. As soon as he threw it, I turned to him and said, ‘ Shane, you gotta put your name in the record book’. By God, he didn’t do half!”

Gatting continued: “I’m happy to be bowled by it because it would have been some fair guy who played only 10 Test matches and got 27 wickets, I would have been really upset.

“Anyway, he turned out to be the best spinner ever, so don’t mind you so much.”

Originally published at Pen 18