Ball of the century

It takes a great delivery to dismiss a great batsman and England's James Anderson produced a pearler to send Australian skipper Michael Clarke packing for a duck on the opening day of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.Clarke was facing his sixth delivery when Anderson unleashed a ball that was tough to play because the angle meant Clarke's stumps were uncovered when the ball changed direction off the pitch. 

"It's just swung in the air and there have been some awful shots," Boycott, a BBC Radio commentator, said. "Playing swing is a skill – you have to see the line and play it as late as possible."

Lion-hearted Peter Siddle took five wickets for the tourists but Anderson's delivery was the moment of the opening day's play. It's already considered one of the great Test deliveries, a mantle that has been held by Shane Warne's "ball of the century" to dismiss Mike Gatting in 1993, while South Africa's Dale Steyne's outswinger to dismiss Clarke at the WACA last summer and Steve Harminson's last ball slower yorker to upend Clarke again at the Edgbaston Test in 2005 are highly commended.

Former Australian paceman Dirk Nannes's twitter.

Read more at: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/cricket/clarke-fails-first-test-as-anderson-delivers-the-goods-20130711-2prqp.html

by Tan Chia Jee