Best deliveries of all time

Harmison slower ball to Clarke in the 05 Ashes

WHat a horrible sinking feeling i felt after that.
And then ANOTHER kick in the guts the following day
 

Kappa

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I have to question how much of the "rating" for "best balls of all time" have to do with how badly the Batsmen plays the ball, both technically and aesthetically. I'm sure most of the best balls bowlers bowl don't get wickets, that's just how cricket goes...
 
May 5, 2016
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I have to question how much of the "rating" for "best balls of all time" have to do with how badly the Batsmen plays the ball, both technically and aesthetically. I'm sure most of the best balls bowlers bowl don't get wickets, that's just how cricket goes...

Agreed. If you remove context, Warne’s ball to Gatting wouldn’t be in the top 10 he bowled I reckon. Straight away I can think of the balls he bowled to castle Chanderpaul and Strauss, the one to bowl Basit Ali behind his legs, and the flipper to Richie Richardson at the MCG
 
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I dunno, in terms of where it pitched, the drift and the amount of spin (huge but not too much), I can’t think of a much more perfect delivery than the Gatting one.

It wasn’t an ordinary ball by any means but it was hardly unplayable if Gatting got to the pitch better and anticipated at least a bit of spin. I think the fact that he landed it so well without so much as a loosener enhances the legend

I guess in theory no delivery a spinner is totally unplayable as the lack of speed gives you more options per ball than you’ve got against a quick bowler but some of the others mentioned were pretty close to it.
 
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Steyn's ball here is about as good as you can get without getting a wicket



Holy ******* s**t. That IS pretty much unplayable.

While you’d be hard pressed to say he and his teammates bowled their best during that ridic last wicket stand the other day, he DID bowl a couple to the number 11 that were simply never going to get a wicket because they were way too good to nick and were doing too much to hit the stumps
 

Kappa

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I dunno, in terms of where it pitched, the drift and the amount of spin (huge but not too much), I can’t think of a much more perfect delivery than the Gatting one.

If Gatting had of blocked it back down the ground would it still be one of the best deliveries of all time?
 
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He was, but a half-hearted prod forward with his hands behind the speed of the ball wasn’t a great example of how to do it. There wasn’t much difference between that delivery and the one Bishoo bowled Haddin with in 2015 really.
 

archibald

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He was, but a half-hearted prod forward with his hands behind the speed of the ball wasn’t a great example of how to do it. There wasn’t much difference between that delivery and the one Bishoo bowled Haddin with in 2015 really.

You're correct in saying that gatting didnt particulalrly play it well, though you can very reasonably argue that was due to the quality of what was delivered to him.

The same can be said of the strauss ball. The fact he looked so foolish by leaving all 3 stumps exposed adds to the aesthetics as well as indicating that what happened was completely unexpected.
 
Starc's ball to the poms (can't recall whom) at the WACA in the last Ashes match was as unplayable as you could get

It wasn't necessarily bowler skill - but I doubt there'd be a right hander in history who would have survived it.

About the only ones who could would be the likes of Martin, McGrath et al who might completely miss the original line
 

corbies

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Steyn's ball here is about as good as you can get without getting a wicket


That is a ******* unreal delivery. The angle in and swing away is totally unplayable.

Steyn and the South Africans really took the not out decision well too :rolleyes:. I'll remember that next time Graeme Smith gives another lecture about the big bad Australians.
 
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1. Jeff Thompson pitching one on a good length and getting it to jag back off the seam, hitting David Lloyd in the balls
2. Jacques Kallis pitching one on a good length and getting it to jag back off the seam, hitting Michael Clarke in the balls
3. Shane Warne's flipper to Daryl Cullinan after gifting him some boundaries to lull him into a false sense of security, set that dweeb up beautifully then flipped the burger and made him mince meat
4. "That will be called a dead ball."

5. One of The Sultan of Swing's vicious double swinging inswinging, reverse swinging toe crushers, can't remember who it was against but it was like he had it on a string, batsman had no chance
 
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