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Mike Gatting stated he was “completely satisfied” to have been bowled by the “ball of the century” that kick-started Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne’s profession as one others cricket’s best bowlers.
Warne died of a suspected coronary heart assault aged simply 52 in Koh Samui, Thailand, on Friday.
Gatting made the remarks in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2013 to mark the twentieth anniversary of one of the celebrated deliveries of all time.
Warne, making his Ashes debut at Manchester’s Old Trafford floor, noticed his first ball pitch outdoors leg-stump after which spin viciously throughout bemused England batsman Gatting to clip the highest of the off-bail.
Warne would go on to win six successive Ashes collection, ending with 708 Test wickets after serving to to safe a 5-0 collection whitewash at Sydney in January 2007.
As the late Richie Benaud, himself a former Australia leg-spinner, remarked throughout his tv commentary: “Gatting has completely no thought what has occurred to him — and he nonetheless doesn’t know.”
“We’d seen a few bits and pieces of him but nothing special,” Gatting instructed the Daily Mail.
“We thought we’d take a look at him, see what he’s about and what he might do, nevertheless it was a outstanding supply. There are individuals who suppose I ought to have padded it away however I by no means tried to lunge at a spinner. I used to be extra anxious about being bowled across the again of my legs.
“I had most of it lined and had ensured it could not get around the again of my legs and if it did the rest, I used to be in the precise place to react, nevertheless it spun rapidly in addition to a good distance. It was a leg break and I knew he had put a variety of revs on it and we knew the wicket would possibly flip, however not that a lot!”
Legendary umpire Dickie Bird, who was at the bowler’s end as Warne sent down the fabled ball, still had a vivid recall of what he said was “one of the best deliveries I ever umpired” throughout his 23 years of officiating in worldwide cricket.
“It was an impressive supply,” said Bird. “It obviously turns a long way but the key to it was the way it dipped so quickly and pitched on such a great line just outside leg stump. As soon as he bowled it, I turned to him and said, ‘Shane, you will put your name in the record books’. By God, he didn’t half do that!”
Gatting added: “I’m completely satisfied to have been bowled by it as a result of had it been some blond bloke who solely performed about 10 Test matches and bought 27 wickets, then I’d have been actually upset.
“As it was, he grew to become one of the best spinner of all time, so that you don’t thoughts a lot.”
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