While not a controversial decision itself, Mike Gatting's utter disbelief at being bowled by Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket highlighted how umpires and batsmen alike were unprepared for extreme spin.
Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket is called the "Ball of the Century" — a leg break that pitched well outside leg stump and spun back viciously to hit the top of off stump. Mike Gatting stood in disbelief, looking at the pitch as if it had betrayed him.
The delivery was not an umpiring controversy in the traditional sense — the ball clearly bowled Gatting. But Gatting's reaction and subsequent confusion about what had happened captured the essence of the umpiring challenge that Warne would present throughout his career.
Umpires struggled to adjudicate LBW appeals from Warne because his deliveries turned so prodigiously and unpredictably. Throughout his career, Warne felt he was denied numerous LBW decisions because umpires simply could not believe the ball would turn as much as it did.
The Ball of the Century announced the arrival of a bowler who would challenge every assumption umpires had about what was possible in cricket. Warne would go on to take 708 Test wickets, and his battles with umpires over LBW decisions became a recurring theme.
Clean bowled — no decision needed. But the moment symbolized the challenge Warne's extreme spin would pose to umpires for the next 15 years.
Gujarat Titans vs Rajasthan Royals
29 May 2026
The Qualifier 2 toss between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals at Mullanpur had to be conducted twice after match referee Prakash Bhatt failed to hear Riyan Parag's call — a visible frustration for Shubman Gill who appeared to have won the original toss before the do-over.
Lucknow Super Giants vs Kolkata Knight Riders
26 April 2026
Kartik Tyagi bowled two beamers in the final over of LSG's chase but was allowed to continue — umpires called only one dangerous — sparking IPL fury.
Various county and representative sides
1864-06-01
The legalisation of overarm bowling in 1864 created an immediate grey zone: how high could the arm go, and at what point did a fast delivery become an illegal throw? Through the 1860s English cricket struggled with this question as a succession of fast bowlers developed actions that umpires suspected but rarely no-balled, creating a climate of suspicion that would recur in every generation of cricket thereafter.