ICC remembers Shane Warne's iconic 'Ball of the Century'

Shane Warne
Reuters file photo

International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday reminisced the memories of the most iconic 'the ball of the century' of 1993 by Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne.

The late leg-spinner achieved this feat during the first Test of the Ashes series against England at Manchester. The particular ball by the then 23-year-old Warne took the breath of all cricket fans away. The ball landed wide of leg but spun so much that it knocked over the off-stump of England's batsman Mike Gatting. The batter stood at the crease in disbelief and it took him a couple of minutes to process what had actually happened to him.

Taking to Twitter, ICC shared some pictures of the precious moment and wrote, "On this day in 1993, the world witnessed Shane Warne's 'Ball of the Century'."

In the match against England, Australia had scored 289 runs in the first innings, and it was in the hosts' innings when Warne dismissed Gatting.

The leg-spinner ended up taking four wickets in the first innings and another four in the second, thus providing Australia with a win by 179 runs in the Test.

Spin legend Warne tragically passed away on 4 March due to a suspected heart attack in Thailand.

Warne was one of the most influential cricketers in history. He almost single-handedly reinvented the art of leg-spin when he burst onto the international scene in the early 1990s, and by the time he retired from international cricket in 2007, he had become the first bowler to reach 700 Test wickets.

Warne finished his international career with 708 Test wickets and a further 293 in One-Day Internationals, placing him second in the list of all-time international wicket-takers behind his great friend and rival Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (1,347). Shane also captained Australia in 11 One-Day Internationals, winning 10 and losing just once.