Mitchell Starc of Australia celebrates getting the wicket of James Vince during the third Ashes cricket test. Photo / Getty
Is Mitchell Starc the owner of the 'ball of the 21st century?'
Spinner Shane Warne took the mantle for the 20th century, but Starc produced his own candidate on Sunday with a pearler of a delivery that bowled James Vince during the third Ashes Test at the WACA Ground.
Read more: The gulf between Australia and England.
But here's the proviso - it was a WACA crack that did most of the work.
Bowling around the wicket, Starc sent down a 144km/h thunderbolt.
Without deviation, the ball would have missed the stumps and gone down the leg side.
Read more: Australia poised to reclaim the Ashes
But instead, it hit the crack, straightened up, and rocketed the off-stump of Vince.
Vince missed the ball by about 10cm and later admitted there was simply nothing he could have done to stop the outcome.
"If I face that another 20 or 30 times, I think it would get me out every time," said Vince, who was on 55 when confronted with the unplayable delivery.
Warne labelled Starc's delivery as the ball of the Ashes.
But former England captain Michael Vaughan went even further, labelling it the ball of the 21st century.
Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood says Starc has the chance to repeat the feat on Monday by staying around the wicket to England's right-handers.
"It's hitting that crack and it's probably heading down leg more often than not," Hazlewood said.
"But you only need a couple to straighten off that, and you're in the game. It was a pretty special ball.
"I'd love five or six more tomorrow.
"We're obviously aiming for that crack from that end, as Jimmy (Anderson) did at the start of the day to get a couple of LBWs.
"Starc has a history of creating special headlines at the WACA.
In November 2015, Starc entered cricket folklore by sending down a delivery against NZ that registered 160.4km/h on the speed gun - the fastest ever by a left-armer.
However, NZ batting coach Craig McMillan queried the legitimacy of the speed reading, saying that to him the ball looked similar to Starc's other deliveries that were around the 150km/h mark.
- AAP
