Gatting's Disbelief — Ball of the Century, 1993

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.