West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo has delivered a wonder ball to deceive Australia's Brad Haddin at Windsor Park that is also sure to be replayed time and time again. Video / YouTube: 671cricket
Maybe not, but it was fitting that on the 22nd anniversary of Shane Warne's incredible leg break to England's Mike Gatting, a leg-spinner again stole the show in a Test match.
West Indies leggie Devendra Bishoo did all he could to haul the hosts backinto the Test against Australia in Dominica on Thursday, claiming a career-best 6-80 on a turning Windsor Park pitch.
His efforts may ultimately be in vain with the Windies trailing by 145 runs with eight second innings wickets remaining at stumps on day two, but Bishoo will have one enduring memory of the day.
His ball to dismiss Brad Haddin was one that Aussie great Warne would have proud of. The Australian wicketkeeper could only stare in bewilderment after a Bishoo leg-break pitched on leg, fizzed past the face of his bat and struck the top of off stump.
"Yeah, it was a good ball wasn't it? I think he bowled me a couple of them as well," debutant centurion Adam Voges said.
"Fortunately the ones I played and missed at spun enough to miss the stumps. That was a very good ball."
Bishoo's spell is just the latest in a worrying trend of Australia's top batsmen struggling against spin. In last year's two-Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, Australia lost 30 wickets at 23.66 to the opposition spinners.
With many in England suggesting 27-year-old Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid should be unleashed on the Australians in the upcoming Ashes series, it's a point of concern. But Bishoo himself doesn't think Australia have a drama with spin bowling.
"I never thought so," he said. "They are one of the best teams in the world and at the end of the day you have to bowl well and play really good cricket to compete with them."
