Everybody remembers Shane Warne for his famous “ball of the century” to dismiss Mike Gatting. What most people do not remember is the delivery which came 6 months prior to the Gatting delivery, to dismiss West Indies’ Richie Richardson at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. According to Warne himself, that was the delivery that transformed his spinning career and made him one of the best spinners of the world.
In an interview with cricket.com.au, he talks about the delivery that changed his life.
In a test series against the West Indies at home, Warne was overlooked for the first test which ended in a draw.
Allan Border came out and said, “‘If we had Shane Warne here we would have won that Test match,’,” Warne said, “That was nice to have the backing of the captain so I got picked for the Melbourne Test match.”
After being picked for the next test match but did nothing to trouble the visitors for the first 4 days as he claimed only one wicket in the first innings.
On the last day, with West Indies chasing 359, they were cruising at 143-1. In came Shane Warne to bowl, and the rest is history; and it all started with the wicket of Richie Richardson.
“So it got to the last day, they were cruising again the West Indies. And I was sort of being written off by a lot of people saying ‘this guy’s no good, he can’t deliver’,” Warne said.
“I then bowled a flipper, probably one of the best flippers I’ve ever bowled, to Richie Richardson just on the break again and bowled him. The West Indies just thought it was a bad ball that ran along the ground. Not too many people in the early ‘90s had seen a flipper, a lot of these guys were just so used to fast bowling.”
After the wicket of Richardson, Warne did not look back.
“That day I went on to take 7-52 and that sort of made me believe that if I bowled well enough at Test level I’m good enough.”
Australia went on to lose the series 2-1 and Warne picked up only 2 wickets in the last 3 matches, yet he defines that bowling performance as a career changing moment.
“You just don’t want to embarrass yourself when you first start. But then over a period of time you want to prove that you’re good enough. And once you realise you’re good enough and not playing for your spot, you’ve got a bit more leniency, there’s not as much pressure on you.”
“From that day on I was pretty lucky for the next 15 or so years after that I could go out and bowl what I wanted to do and there weren't too many bad days after that,” said Warne
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