Best Spells of the decade

I thought it would be an easier job to select the best spells in a batsman dominated decade and now I know I couldn't have been more wrong. Expect you guys to come out with a list of those spells that I narrowly or broadly missed out! Here we go, my compilation of the 11 best spells of the decade and the usual disclaimers apply:

Shoaib Akhtar’s 5 for 21 vs Australia at Colombo, 2002

This was the time when “Australian batting collapse” was unofficially taken off from the cricketing lexicon and when it occasionally did re-surface, it still meant a decent score on the board. During those juggernaut days, Australia played a characteristic test agt Pak in Colombo amassing a huge first innings total and then taking a lead of 188 by dismissing Pak for a moderate score. Even at this impregnable position, if anyone in the world could make Aussies nervous it was the mercurial Shoaib Akhtar. And he vindicated that fear on this day. At 74 for one, Aussies were sailing along comfortably, when Shoaib ran havoc with their famed batting line up. It was the most deadly spell of fast bowling that I have seen live. Ponting was beaten for sheer pace, Mark Waugh couldn’t do anything about another thunderbolt hitting the timber, then he nearly cleaned up Steve Waugh for a hat-trick but Waugh marginally survived. But that didn’t matter, he got him the next ball with another full, fast, swinging bullet that trapped him plumb in front. The world’s most vaunted middle order was finished in a matter of 4 balls. But that was not all. There was a little matter of a Gilly left. But the way Shoaib was going, it looked beyond even Gilly that day and so it proved a couple of overs later. Shoaib sprints in and bowls the inevitable full, swinging Yorker which goes through all that Gilly could bring into arrest the ball’s momentum and hits the base of the leg stump. It was fearsome. If Michael Holding was consistently such a threat or superior, God, I so regret the fact that I was born so late.

Anil Kumble’s 7 for 48 vs Australia at Chepauk, 2004

I remember watching this match live in Chepauk. After the B’lore horror, things were not looking much better in Chennai either, with Australia motoring to 180 odd for the loss of just 2 wickets. It was irritating to see Ganguly preferring Harbhajan over Kumble for so long. I thought I would come back home rather than go through this pain. But then, convinced myself to stay back rationalizing that it was very similar the last time around in 2001 as well and how things changed in the post tea session then. I am so glad I stayed back. If I was angered by Ganguly preferring Bhajji over Kumble, how would Kumble have been feeling? Well, we got to know over the next 2 hours. This was post surgery Kumble at his very best, with a lot more variations and a little more flight (But that Michael Clarke LBW was quintessentially good ol' Kumble though), he ran through the Australian line up in less than a session. From 180 odd for 2, Aussies were folded out for 235! At the end of the day in the press conference, Gilly summed up the spell perfectly by equating it with Ambrose’s perth spell. If an Australian rates anything in the same league as the Ambrose’s spell in Perth, you better know that they were rattled and rattled badly…


Anil Kumble’s 5 for 60 vs Pakistan at Bangalore, 2007

This might seem a weird choice if you haven’t seen the spell and if you have, you wouldn’t disagree with me one bit. This was also Kumble’s first series as Captain. India made 626 in the first innings, Pak made 537 in reply and with India at 131/2 in their second innings at the end of 4th day, it was all set to be another dull draw. And so Kumble allowed his batsmen to have an extended batting practice and declared when all the top order batsmen were done with their practice, with 40 odd overs left in the day and 374 to get for Pakistan. With a draw looming large, Kumble decided to try some seam ups for fun..oh boy did he bring out the Dennis Lilee in him. Yaseer Hameed was cleaned up by searing outswinger! Younis Khan lobbed a catch back to another seam up, Salman Butt was caught behind , Faisal Iqbal allowed his rush of blood to get the better of him. Now all of a sudden the test match had come to life, in walked Kamran Akmal to face the fiercest competitor on a cricket field. This would stay in my memory for as long as I live. Kumble bowled another searing outswinger which completely beat the forward prod from Kamran Akmal leaving him absolutely shell-shocked, comfortably dislodging the off bails. Both Yaseer Hameed’s and Akmal’s dismissals would have made Deniss Lilee proud. At 162 for 7 and with around 10 overs remaining, Pakistan must thank their stars, for bad light abandoned the day’s play, saving them from sheer embarrassment.

Shane Warne 4 for 49 vs England at Adelaide, 2006

After a humiliation in the first test at Brisbane, England under Flintoff were putting on a real fight in the second test at Adelaide. England amassed a huge first innings score of 551 and even took a small first innings lead, ending the fourth day at 59 for 1 in their second innings. The test was all set to end in a draw with England drawing more momentum out of this test. But some brain freeze in the English think tank and a Wily Warne just completely swung the balance of the match. Resuming the innings on the fifth day the English batsmen were so bafflingly defensive, they didn’t look like playing for a draw but committing suicide. That’s exactly the inch of a chance that Warne needed and he got it. Then through the first session on the final day, he flighted the ball, drifted it in, turned it out, zooted it flat for England to blink first, blink first is exactly they did! Warne first took Strauss with a looping delivery (a dodgy decision though), then castled Pieterson with a sheer beauty and that set the cat amongst the pigeons and the rest is history. That Warne helped him himself for a couple more tail ender wickets maybe added for record’s sake, but the fact of the matter is that he sealed the match by interrogating and surveying the batsmen for 32 overs of masterful deceit, that exposed England and their brain freeze. England played out 73 overs but unfortunately & strangely made only 129! And Aussies were more than happy to complete the formality of overhauling the target of 168.

Glenn McGrath’s 6 for 17 vs West Indies at Brisbane, 2000

That Mcgrath will torment WI so thoroughly for a decade started here. Infact, I would argue that his hat-trick in the next match was set up here. He doesn’t bowl express pace, doesn’t possess magical deliveries, infact doesn’t even swing the ball prodigiously. But this spell is the epitome of his greatness. Like I wrote about Warne’s spell, in this spell Mcgrath surveyed the batsmen’s temperament like a masterful Psychiatrist. He set the agenda very clear – if you want to score, you better earn every run. He was hitting the channel every ball for 20 consecutive overs and the result was 6 for 17 with 12 maidens! Just building pressure ball after ball has never looked so glamorous, so compelling to watch. As if continuing from where he left in the first innings, he also got a 4 for in the second innings to finish with the cheapest 10 for in the history of the game – 10 for 27. With Mcgrath the corridor of uncertainty is such a certainty!


Muttiah Muralitharan’s 6 for 59 vs Australia at Galle, 2004

The all-conquering Aussies after rolling past all and sundry halted at Station SriLanka, to establish their supremacy over the magic of Murali. Facing Murali for the first time after he had mastered that dark art of doosra, Aussies failed the litmus test against Murali rather woefully. Murali took it upon himself to dislodge 2 of Australia’s best players of spin in Hayden – to his most affable weapon (the sweep shot) and Lehman to his most dangerous vulnerability (shuffling too far across the stumps). From then on he destroyed the rest of the batting order to bring Australia down from 148 for 3 to 220 all out! Its entirely another story that Aussies came back from a 181 run deficit in the first innings to win the match…

Jermaine Lawson’s 7 for 78 vs Australia at Antigua, 2003

It’s fairly obvious that most of the great spells have been against Australia. So supreme was their batting line up during their heymonths (heydays is too small a period to describe their domination) that it took an extraordinary bowling performance from their opponent to make a match of it. One such performance was from a then relatively unknown guy called Jermaine Lawson. This was a deadly devastation. He ripped through the Australian top order with a sustained spell of wonderful fast bowling and then later came back spitting venom to clean up the tail. The way he destroyed the tail was a throwback to those West Indian pace battery days, Lee was out fending and no different was the treatment to Mcgill and Gillespie either. Ruthless is the word. As devastating as the spell was, it still required a world record fourth innings chase (at that time) for West Indies to put it across Australia…

Ajanta Mendis’s 6 for 117 vs India at Galle, 2008

He had already served a warning to the world in the finals of the Asia cup. But we thought that was against a young Indian batting line up in an ODI match. Cometh the test series, the senior pros would be back and would put him in his place – after all they are the best players of spin on the planet. He made a great start to his career by weaving his magic against the famed Indian middle order in the first test and picked up 4 fors in both the innings. But his best spell came in the next test. Mendis started it all by somehow bowling a leg cutter with a spinner’s action to trap Gambhir in front and broke a great opening partnership. In came Dravid, out came another carom ball from Mendis’ hands and out walked Dravid disappointed! He had Dravid’s number all series. Then, he was toying with the guy who I rate as the best player of spin in the world along with Brian Lara – VVS Laxman. Laxman nudged, edged and scratched his way to 39 before he was inevitably out to Mendis! Accounted for Karthik with another of his trademark deliveries trapping him in front and mopped up the tail with ease. But this spell didn’t quite get its due because Sehwag was taking him to the cleaners at the same time as he was embarrassing the rest of our famed batting line up!

Harbhajan Singh’s 8 for 84 vs Australia at Chepauk, 2001

This is the best test match I have watched live in a stadium. I remember watching this match from the D stand, where once Hayden holed out to mid-wicket we were pretty sure Harbhajan would run through the rest. Run through is what he exactly did! After a blinder in the Mumbai test, Gilly was having a horrendous time in the rest of the series and was sent in at no. 3 to fix his form but it didn’t make any difference. Harbhajan fired a quick one straight and Gilly was hit on the pads dead in front, bowled a beauty of a drifter to get rid of Slater, then ran into that man of all lazy elegance – Mark Waugh. He was putting on a sterling exhbition on how to play quality spin bowling. I got bogged down and started to walk out of the stand, heading home. Then I heard the whole stadium erupt in joy and we all know what that means – so happily went back and thankfully found my place back too! From then on it was a Harbhajan show all the way. Ponting came out all aggressive lofting Bhajji over long on for a six, but really, did anyone expect it to last? No, and so duly Ponting guided Harbhajan to Dravid and walked back. Then came the funniest dismissal of all – Warne did everything he could to gift a wicket to Bhajji off the last ball of the day by shuffling thrice before finally padding up right in front of the stumps. Harbhajan on resumption cleaned up Waugh, Gillespie and Miller as his wont to finish with an 8 for to go with a 7 for in the first innings. And appropriately scored the winning runs too!

Steve Harmison’s 7 for 12 vs West Indies at Jamaica, 2004

If someone has a bowling analysis of 7 for 12 in 12.3 overs with 8 maidens, then it ought to be rated amongst the very best. It was almost like a lottery, he looked like getting a wicket of almost every ball that he bowled. I must mention that the inadequacy of the WI batting contributed a lot, but nevertheless this was Harmison at his penetrative best. First he dismissed Gayle and Sarwan with good hard 'hitting the deck' fast bowling, then rapped Chanderpaul hard on the arms to have him out "played on" a little later! If he was so good to the top order, he was a little better for the rest and mopped up the tail in no time and finished with his career best figures & inflicted on WI its lowest ever test score of 47!

Simon Jones’s 6 for 53 vs Australia at Old Trafford, 2005

For all the penetrative spells of Flintoff throughout the Ashes, it was this spell from Simon Jones which broke Australia’s back. They won the second test in which Flintoff towered over the rest but it was a close run thing. Also Mcgrath was absent. At 1-1 against Australia’s best XI, it was here at Old Trafford that England actually won the Ashes by taking a decisive 2-1 lead. And the architect of that was a man who is destined to spend the rest of his career in obscurity. Anyone who has seen him before knows that with a short run up Simon Jones can generate serious pace but what he did in this innings was to combine a deadly reverse swing with that serious pace. With a semi-old ball he was able to get the ball to reverse and he did that to telling effect by ripping through the Australian lower order after dismissing Ponting earlier in the innings helping England take a 142 run first innings lead. The Aussies were so shaken by this spell of reverse swing that Australian media started claiming that letting Cooley join the English Camp was one of Cricket Australia’s biggest mistakes! This spell also exposed the lack of technical knowledge of the most successful coach of all time – one Mr.John Buchanan, he couldn’t spell reverse swing leave alone explaining it!