Ball of the Century

Although showing some promise, Warne's early career had been less than spectacular, and his style of bowling—leg spin—was seen by many cricket followers as an antiquated art with little value in the modern game.

[6] English captain Graham Gooch won the toss and elected to bowl first, hoping to use the pitch conditions to make batting difficult for the Australians.

However, Gatting was renowned as a world-class player against spin bowling and was fully expected to give the inexperienced Warne a tough time.

[citation needed] After a slow run-up of just a few paces, Warne rolled his right arm over and delivered a leg break to the right-handed Gatting.

As is apparent from slow-motion replays, the rapidly spinning cricket ball began to drift to the right (due to the Magnus effect).

This series was another step in the early stages of Australia's long domination of world cricket, coinciding with Warne's exceedingly successful career.

[9] This was further alluded to by journalist Martin Johnson, who said, "How anyone can spin a ball the width of Gatting boggles the mind",[9] and again by Gooch who added, "If it had been a cheese roll, it would never have got past him.

"[10] It was said that Gatting visited Warne in the Australian Dressing Rooms at Old Trafford and asked: "Bloody hell, Warnie, what happened?"

During the Old Trafford Test of the 2005 Ashes series, the long-retired Gatting re-created the Ball of the Century with an automated bowling machine programmed to deliver leg spin.

In the final ODI of the 2021 Pakistan Tour of England, Matt Parkinson bowled Imam-ul-Haq, placing the ball in the rough, and generating a large amount of turn.