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The Best Ball Ever Bowled......

open365

International Vice-Captain
tooextracool said:
no its still a very good ball, but if it doesnt take a wicket, how is it better than a ball that does?
In many ways,the bowler can't controll what the batsman dsoes,they just have to bowl it in the right areas and hope the batsman nicks it,if he doesn't,it is not the bowler fault.

And the best ball doesn't have to hit the stumps at all,any good international bowler bowls more deliveries outside off than on the stumps,look at Glen McGrath.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
open365 said:
In many ways,the bowler can't controll what the batsman dsoes,they just have to bowl it in the right areas and hope the batsman nicks it,if he doesn't,it is not the bowler fault.

And the best ball doesn't have to hit the stumps at all,any good international bowler bowls more deliveries outside off than on the stumps,look at Glen McGrath.
quite obviously, because if you try to bowl balls that pitched on leg and hit the top of off stump, you'll end up giving away a truckload of runs. and yes the bowler cant control what the batsman does, but if you bowl an unplayable ball on the stumps, you dont need to worry about what the batsman does, yet when you bowl outside the off stump, you have to hope that the batsman actually gets bat on it.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
I actually agree with TEC. He's not saying that unplayable balls outside offstump aren't "excellent deliveries", but rather the best one should be one that will pretty much take a wicket 99% of the time if that ball is bowled. An awesome ball outside offstump which the batsman plays and missed at isn't the 'greatest delivery of all time' because you can't guarantee a wicket with that ball.

Plus I always thought the fact that the bowler has done it all by themselves when they clean bowl a batsman (That is, get through the batsman without an awesome slips catch or diving keeper, just Bowler v Batsman with batsman winning) makes it slightly better. Hence why I think Warne's and Waqar's balls that have clean bowled the batsman and are almost unplayable are solid candidates for the best ever.
 

Tom Halsey

International Coach
tooextracool said:
no its still a very good ball, but if it doesnt take a wicket, how is it better than a ball that does?
So effectyively a long hop that gets caught at deep square leg is a better ball than a ball that moves a foot in the air and beats the batter outside off?
 

tooextracool

International Coach
Tom Halsey said:
So effectyively a long hop that gets caught at deep square leg is a better ball than a ball that moves a foot in the air and beats the batter outside off?
no, what i mean is that an unplayable ball on the stumps is better than an unplayable ball outside the off stump.
 

Craig

World Traveller
Bit of an impossible question since people are just going list their favourite balls bowls or in the case of the English - from the 2005 Ashes series.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Slats4ever said:
Word... I remember one Gillespie over he bowled to Lara... That was an amazing collection of six balls. All on the off stump cutting away and the last one slightly outside, left alone by Lara then cutting back in and hitting the off stump :happy:

But then again I liked Simon Jones ball to get rid of Clarke in that test we drew (I forget what number it was... but it was the one where Ponting got bucketloads to save us)
I remember that. I was actually going to nominate that ball by Gillespie to Lara.
 

thierry henry

International Coach
bradman2005 said:
Bond has bowled a few good ones...............
Everyone talks about the ball to Gilchrist.

imo his best was actually one he bowled in his opening spell against Pakistan in the first game of the ODI tri-series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka in May 2003. I believe he actually got injured bowling this spell and it happened to be his last game for over 2 years.

Anyway, he bowled one ball in this spell (I'm not sure who it was to) that must have started 2 feet outside the right-hander's off stump and swung back to hit middle. The batsman just sort of hung his bat helplessly outside off stump. It was beyond unplayable.
 
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Langeveldt

Soutie
tooextracool said:
no its still a very good ball, but if it doesnt take a wicket, how is it better than a ball that does?
easy, ever heard the expression, "a better player would have nicked it"?
 

howardj

International Coach
Wasim Akram's ball to Alan Lamb I think it was, in the 1992 World Cup final. A mesmeric inswinger - absolute gold, which ripped the heart out of the Poms.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
Langeveldt said:
easy, ever heard the expression, "a better player would have nicked it"?
as opposed to a ball which would have got every player however good or bad bowled? i think i'll choose the latter anyday.
 

Tom Halsey

International Coach
tooextracool said:
as opposed to a ball which would have got every player however good or bad bowled? i think i'll choose the latter anyday.
Yes but no brilliant bowler (particularly seam) is ever going to aim at the stumps (apart from maybe at tailenders) because they wouldn't be brilliant if they did. They wouldn't be great otherwise.
 

Dasa

International Vice-Captain
Tom Halsey said:
Yes but no brilliant bowler (particularly seam) is ever going to aim at the stumps (apart from maybe at tailenders) because they wouldn't be brilliant if they did. They wouldn't be great otherwise.
Why on earth not? Your point makes no sense at all...to be great, you have to bowl in 'the corridor'?? Every bowler is trying to get wickets, and some of their best balls are bowled at the stumps because it gives the greatest chance of getting the wicket. Your point really is ridiculous.
 

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Pedro Delgado said:
Walsh-o slower ball that looks like a beamer but hits you plum on middle. Chris Read being an hilarious victim of it IIRC. Brett Lee to Fred last summer during the nail-biting run chase. Neither are the best ever, but crackerjack deliveries nonetheless.
Yeah that was Chris Cairns bowling to Read in the 99 test series. Read ducked it thinking it was a beamer !!! and it crashed into the bottom of middle stump. A brilliant slower ball!!!
 

Robertinho

Cricketer Of The Year
Halsey, you're wrong.

Yes, someone can bowl outside off and keep the batsman playing and missing, no one is saying they aren't good deliveries, but that's the bowler trying to frustrate the batsman and draw him into a soft stroke. When a bowler is bowling aggressively to get the wicket, regardless of what the batsman wants to do - ie; someone can leave a ball outside off, but not an inswinging yorker. I think I read somewhere that Malcolm Marshall would bowl "wicket balls" - balls that he believed would always get a wicket, regardless of what the batsman did. ("Then why not bowl them all the time?" well they wouldn't work every single time would they.. I'm sure he softened & set them up for it)

Those are the sort of balls that are brilliant
 

Hit4Six

U19 Debutant
deeps said:
Best ball

Waqar younis > Brian Charles Lara. Lara ended up on his bum and the stumps were splayed all over the place

Simply unplayable delivery, no1 ever makes BCL look so foolish
i remember one which waqar bowled which struck lara on the foot INCREDIBLE
 

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Dasa said:
Why on earth not? Your point makes no sense at all...to be great, you have to bowl in 'the corridor'?? Every bowler is trying to get wickets, and some of their best balls are bowled at the stumps because it gives the greatest chance of getting the wicket. Your point really is ridiculous.
Of course you're going to get more wickets, I don't dispute that, but any respectable batsman is just going to work you for runs. It is no coincidence that the best bowlers (unless they're reversing it) bowl in the corridor.
 

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