Graeme Swann says Sachin Tendulkar would have been out "1,000 times” to Starc's jaffa

What's the story?

Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann has said that Mitchell Starc's beauty to dismiss James Vince at WACA might have got any batsman out. Swann has heaped massive praise on that delivery which sent back a set Vince for 55 when he was aiming to reduce England's deficit in the third Test.

“Sachin Tendulkar, Don Bradman and Steven Smith would have been out 1,000 out of 1,000 times on that delivery,” Swann told ESPNcricinfo.

Swann further said that those who termed the ball as an exaggeration “do not know the game of cricket”. He said that it was the best ball he had ever seen live in cricket.

In case you didn't know...

On the fourth day of the third Ashes Test in Perth, Starc, bowling from around the wicket to Vince, pitched one on good length at middle and leg stump and uprooted Vince's off-stump, the ball almost spinning off the surface. Experts even hailed the delivery as the “Ball of the century” and said that even Bradman would have been dismissed off that ripper.

The delivery also earned comparison to Shane Warne' “Ball of the century” which he had bowled to Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993 – a leg-spinner which was pitched outside leg and disrupted Gatting's off-stump.

The heart of the matter

He reminded critics that though Starc's beauty may have abruptly risen off a foothole on the pitch – the WACA has plenty of them – but Warne's jaffa to Gatting came off a foothole which many may have not noticed. The ball, simply put, was “unplayable” according to Swann.

What's next?

England enter the fifth and final day of the WACA Test with 127 runs in arrears and only six wickets in the bank. The visitors are already 0-2 down in the series and another loss would give Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead and ensure that the urn would return Down Under.

During the previous Ashes in Australia, played in 2013-14, England had lost 5-0 and four years later, they seem headed in the same direction.

Author's Take

Indeed, Starc delivered a gem of a delivery which has made the cricketing world stand up and take notice. It was almost impossible for Vince to react to a ball at 90 miles per hour angling into the right-hander and abruptly rising off the quick Perth track.