Sometimes I wonder what would happen if the debate were to be re-opened today between the two of us. There's a bit of hidden truth about that episode; time to come clean. I had tried to contrive that decision, though the foul-play was not eventually needed.

Back then the honour went to – take a breath now - “one that is delivered at decent pace close to the stumps, lands the inner edge of the ball in line with the outer edge of the off-stump - at a length likely to hit the stumps 2/3rd height from bottom - and moves away just enough to take the outside edge of the front-footed batsman’s perfectly offered defensive bat”. The men behind the stumps would complete the remaining formality. No one should survive that, we opined, unless good fortune prevents the nick.

Put on paper, it reads like a balloonful of hot air. However there is well-preserved footage of what the delivery could be like. It is stored up here - a mental recording of the greatest over personally seen, a memory that can colour judgement permanently.

That over happened in the 1992 World Cup tie between India & West Indies at Wellington. Sachin Tendulkar, all of 18 years and in fine nick, was at the crease facing Curtly Elcon Lynwall Ambrose.

Ambrose started the over and the 1st of the stealth killers came first ball. Fresh from dismissal to a beast of an away-mover from Ian Botham in the WC92 inaugural match, the little big man of Indian cricket was now facing a fast-forward version. Unavoidably Tendulkar played at it on the front foot, nicked it, and got dropped by wicketkeeper Dave Williams.

Indians breathed easier as the next two deliveries were negotiated safely. The fourth delivery was a near-repeat of the first one and sure enough it drew the same response from the batsman. The edge was taken and the little gloveman made no mistake this time. Williams was soon jumping sky-high to construct a famously camera-friendly high five with the down-turned palms of the big man.

Representation of the above story may not be entirely accurate as memories, even unforgettable ones, get rustier by the day. Must mention though that the over has since made me secretly proud to be a trundler, armed with a notion that no satisfactory shot has probably been designed to counter the best delivery that can come from a fast bowler. Sachin Tendulkar happened to be a part of the proceedings that day, and the perfectly acceptable shots he offered only added permanence to that hypothesis.

Fortunately for batsmen such deliveries are as common as Australians having to say nice things about Pommies and Kiwis. What then of receiving two of these in an over? Wonder if anyone ever saw Sachin near a casino on 10th March since - maybe Steven Lynch can help.

From a larger perspective, a skillful exponent was approaching the summit of perfection in his trade during that over, crossing the mark where art and skill merge into an amalgam named genius. None of it was happening by chance when King Curtly held court that day. And 'I was there', glued to the television.

Nice post, Angshuman. However, I'm not so sure about whether the delivery you describe would be the perfect one in terms of getting a wicket - it might actually be too good for the batsman, because his bat (defensive or otherwise) would probably be playing down the wrong line (and then of course, even a couple of milimetres can be the difference between getting a nick and not getting one).

BTW, this reminds me of a discussion I used to have with friends about one of the Ironies of Cricket - that the really good deliveries in the corridor were most likely to get only the very best batsmen out (the ones with the best eye) while lesser players would get away.

Very true J, your post. There are other deliveries that have actually been more successful than this one, specially against tailenders.
Difference is, those hit only when batsman misses, while this one misses only when batsman misses.
Inference: for a lower order bats (who keep missing) it may have stiff competition from yorkers and inswingers; for a top order bat though it is peerless.
I am expecting a lot of stuff, mostly eggs, on this!

The standard line from coaching manual for seamers has been to hit the top of off stump consistently. The magic ball doesn't have to cast too big a spell when it is wrapped inside an army of other deliveries of perfect line and length.

Apparently Lillee used to say that he would bowl inswingers to tailenders in order for them to nick it. Weird, but true. Recently I saw one of the Pakistani tailenders play inside a Flintoff inswinging yorker.

A good delivery is the one that changes the game, or helps change it. An even better delivery is one that changes a career. But the best delivery is one that changes the world order. For some reason I believe that when Harmison hit Ponting on the head during the first Ashes test, it was an order-changing signal to the rest of the world. Everything has to be seen in context. Warne's delievery to Gatting was not only great for its perfect line and outa-this-world turn, but also for how it announced Warne's arrival to the world. Akram's late 2-wicket burst in the WC 92 final was the defining moment in Pakistan's cricket history. We all look at the number of wickets and runs and averages, but ask any circketer and they'll be happy to trade their entire career to play a defining role in a WC final.

The magic delivery that I will always remember is from the Chennai test match, played in 1999. Akram was bowling from over the wicket to Dravid and the ball swung in from about off stump in the air pitched on about middle and leg and Dravid "The Wall" offering the impeccable front foot defense with bat and pad probably about a millimeter apart and the ball moving "away" after pitching and clipping off stump. I think these are unplayable. I did see one more such instance in the 1996 semi final when Laras innings was cut short by a ball similar to this except that Steve Waugh was bowling around the wicket and the ball angled in from Off Stump pitched on middle and then went away to take the outside half of off stump.

Thanks for reminding that one, Krishna.
A special spell it truly 'waz' at the MAC stadium, and that particular one you mentioned was the crowning glory of a set of gems produced in the spell by Wasim Akram.

Yes Krishna, that one over from Wasim is definetely the best piece of fast bowling I have ever seen. I think he got Dravid on 5th ball of the over, but before that had hit Dravid on the pad with one that came in, Dravid was lucky to be not given LBW. The next one left Dravid and he was not "good enough" to nick him. And then came the ball that you described that eventually got him. It was truly amazing delivery in that it swung in before pitching and finally moved away after pitching. I will always have a graphic image of that one over and I am sure that Dravid too would not forget it.

And regarding the magic ball, I would think that the magic ball is one that pitches on off and middle at good length and leave the batsman to take the off stump. The batsmen are more than welcome to nick it, if they can.