Magic balls: Buy one, get one free

Twelve summers ago I had a fairly animated discussion on a fast bowler’s ideal delivery with Gogol, the kid brother of a friend and a perennial favourite of mine. ‘The magic ball’ had to be defined.

We went on to answer the call of cricket fanaticism and did the job ourselves. Me-cricket-expert caps firmly in place, we chose a few of the best prototypes, deliberated on them and finally passed a judgement that the world must have been waiting for.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if the debate were to be re-opened today between the two of us. There's a bit of hidden truth about that episode; time to come clean. I had tried to contrive that decision, though the foul-play was not eventually needed.

Back then the honour went to – take a breath now - “one that is delivered at decent pace close to the stumps, lands the inner edge of the ball in line with the outer edge of the off-stump - at a length likely to hit the stumps 2/3rd height from bottom - and moves away just enough to take the outside edge of the front-footed batsman’s perfectly offered defensive bat”. The men behind the stumps would complete the remaining formality. No one should survive that, we opined, unless good fortune prevents the nick.

Put on paper, it reads like a balloonful of hot air. However there is well-preserved footage of what the delivery could be like. It is stored up here - a mental recording of the greatest over personally seen, a memory that can colour judgement permanently.

That over happened in the 1992 World Cup tie between India & West Indies at Wellington. Sachin Tendulkar, all of 18 years and in fine nick, was at the crease facing Curtly Elcon Lynwall Ambrose.

Ambrose started the over and the 1st of the stealth killers came first ball. Fresh from dismissal to a beast of an away-mover from Ian Botham in the WC92 inaugural match, the little big man of Indian cricket was now facing a fast-forward version. Unavoidably Tendulkar played at it on the front foot, nicked it, and got dropped by wicketkeeper Dave Williams.

Indians breathed easier as the next two deliveries were negotiated safely. The fourth delivery was a near-repeat of the first one and sure enough it drew the same response from the batsman. The edge was taken and the little gloveman made no mistake this time. Williams was soon jumping sky-high to construct a famously camera-friendly high five with the down-turned palms of the big man.

Representation of the above story may not be entirely accurate as memories, even unforgettable ones, get rustier by the day. Must mention though that the over has since made me secretly proud to be a trundler, armed with a notion that no satisfactory shot has probably been designed to counter the best delivery that can come from a fast bowler. Sachin Tendulkar happened to be a part of the proceedings that day, and the perfectly acceptable shots he offered only added permanence to that hypothesis.

Fortunately for batsmen such deliveries are as common as Australians having to say nice things about Pommies and Kiwis. What then of receiving two of these in an over? Wonder if anyone ever saw Sachin near a casino on 10th March since - maybe Steven Lynch can help.

From a larger perspective, a skillful exponent was approaching the summit of perfection in his trade during that over, crossing the mark where art and skill merge into an amalgam named genius. None of it was happening by chance when King Curtly held court that day. And 'I was there', glued to the television.