‘Ball of the summer’ one to savour
MITCHELL Starc gave the WACA a magic moment to sign off on with arguably the most unplayable ball of the summer.
The spiritual home of fast bowling has seen some greats pass through its gates, from Dennis Lillee to Curtly Ambrose, who once took seven wickets for one run in a spell, to Malcolm Marshall, and of course the rampaging Merv Hughes who took 13 wickets in a losing Test.
Starc once broke the 160km/h barrier in Perth, but he saved his best until last yesterday as Ashes cricket prepares to farewell the fast bowler’s paradise that is the WACA.
Charging in with the wind at his back, Starc sent down a beast of a delivery that no batsman in the world would have been good enough to keep out.
With a hint of reverse swing and the benefit of hitting a crack, the ball was angled expertly into the batsman and seamed away to the point where the well-set James Vince missed it by 10cm as it cannoned into his off-stump and sent the zing bails flying.
It was instantly hailed as “the ball of the summer” by Mark Taylor in commentary as a mystified Vince could only stare disbelievingly back down the pitch at the hurricane that had just struck.
Another Perth king, Mitchell Johnson, was also left speechless.