Shane Warne or Matt Parkinson? Fans have their final say on the 'Ball of the Century'

Lancashire leg-spinner Matt Parkinson had emulated Warne's 'Ball of the Century' by disturbing Adam Rossington's timber during his team's county game against Northampshire at Old Trafford in Manchester on Friday. 

Northamptonshire skipper  Adam Rossington was completely outfoxed by a dream delivery from Parkinson. It so happened that the Lancashire leg-spinner had tossed it up as the ball drifted and landed outside leg-stump after which it spun sharply on the off-side and ended up shattering the batsman's stumps after successfully having breached his defence.

'Who did it better?'

It so happened that Lancashire cricket was really impressed with its premier spinner that it decided to conduct a fan poll. On one side, the County Cricket Club posted a video of Shane Warne's 'Ball of the Century' to dismiss Mike Gatting back in 1993, and on the other, it was Parkinson's latest version of the dream delivery. 

This tweet evoked mixed reactions from the fans and while some backed Parkinson, there were others who picked Warne's classical delivery that he had bowled 28 years ago which remains a timeless beauty to date. Here are some of the reactions.

'Ball of the Century'

It was on June 4, 1993, when former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne bowled the 'Ball of the Century'. He did this in the first Test of the Ashes series against England at Manchester. That outstanding delivery by the then 23-year-old Warne took the breath of all cricket fans away. The ball pitched outside leg stump and turned sharply to clip the top of his off stump. Gatting stood at the crease in disbelief and it took him a couple of minutes to process what had actually happened to him.

In that contest, Australia had scored 289 runs in the first innings, and it was in the hosts' innings when Warne dismissed Gatting. Warne ended up taking four wickets in the first innings and another four in the second. This effort by Warne helped Australia register a comfortable 179-run win to draw first blood in the 1993 Ashes series. The Aussies successfully retained the 'Urn' as they clinched the six-match series 4–1. 

(Image Courtesy: Twitter@LancsCricket)