Five Most Sensational Overs Bowled in Cricketing History

Cricket has not always been about batsmen it has been too about those sensational overs, over the time.

Since the yesteryears when the fast bowlers were one of the most integral parts of the game, the gentleman’s game reached a next level.

In particular, the pace brigade of Windies in the 1970’s and 1980’s was arguably the best-ever the world has had seen.

From the late 90’s it was the emergence of Australia who dominated world cricket for a very long time.

Moreover, they also had a terrific pace battery and had the great spinner in Shane Warne.

Even Pakistan team has produced great bowlers over the years. Predominantly, there are the teams who have had dominated with their bowling.

However, there have been emergences of terrific bowlers from all around the world. They have delivered some terrific overs and some are recognized as one of the most deadly overs ever bowled in the gentleman’s game.

Let us now have a look at of the five of the deadliest overs in world cricket:

Shoaib Akhtar- vs South Africa, 28th March 2000:

It was a triangular series which Pakistan was a part of, way back in 2000. The venue was set in Sharjah and the Asian giants were playing against the Proteas.

After batting first, Pakistan posted a mediocre 168 on the board. It was never a challenging total under any stress of imagination. However, with a strong bowling attack, Pakistan knew that wickets will keep them in the match.

South Africa got off to a pretty steady start. They were cruising at 74 for no loss when Shoaib Akhtar was introduced in the attack. He had earlier bowled three overs without any luck.

It was the fourth over when the terrific over began. The Rawalpindi Express sent back Mark Boucher to the pavilion with a searing bouncer. He nicked it straight to Moin Khan behind the stumps.

Akhtar took Dale Benkenstien in the fourth delivery of the over with another sensational delivery. The wicket of Lance Klusner was the best of the lot as he castled his timbers with a peach of a delivery. From 74 for zero, South Africa was reduced to 74 four.

South Africa was unable to recover from the slump losing wickets at regular intervals. They eventually lost their 10 wickets for just 27 runs.

The Proteas were bowled out for 101 handing Pakistan a 67 runs victory.

Mitchell Johnson -vs England Ashes 2013/14:

It was the second Test of the 2013/14 Ashes series when Mitchell Johnson produced arguably the best over bowled by an Australian bowler.

Well, it was a memorable spell of fast bowling by the left-arm seamer. He finished with outstanding figures of seven for 40. It included three wickets in a single over.

Australia declared their first innings on 570. England lost Alastair Cook early. However, they huffed and puffed their way to 117 for four when Johnson was brought back into the attack for his second spell.

It was the 50^th over of the innings when the fearsome fast bowler sent down shivers down the spine of the England batters. Johnson trapped Ben Stokes plumb in front with a scorching delivery.

The speedster then removed Matt Prior in the fifth delivery of the over. His pace did the job for Stuart Broad owing to the final delivery. His sheer pace was literally too hot to handle for the Englishmen.

Charl Langeveldt- vs West Indies, May 2005:

The former South African swing bowler Charl Langeveldt bowled one of the most memorable final overs in any formats of the game.

South Africa was playing against Windies in a bilateral series. The match was tilted in favour when Langelveldt came to bowl the final over.

The Windies needed four runs off the final over with three wickets in hand.

Ian Bradshaw and Dwayne Bravo took singles in the first two deliveries of the over. Bradshaw swung hard while facing the third delivery but missed it altogether which disturbed the timbers.

Darren Powell came out to face the next delivery. Again it was a swing and again it was a miss. The ball again went on to disturb the timbers.

Bravo was kept off the strike. It was Corey Collymore, who came out to bat. He couldn’t face any more than one delivery. It was inswinging delivery which struck him plumb in front. Langelveldt also bagged a well-deserved hat-trick.

Irfan Pathan- vs Pakistan, January-Feb 2006:

The left-arm swing bowler Irfan Pathan made his presence felt and bowled arguably the best first over in a Test match. The match was set in Karachi.

Moreover, it was the third match of the series. The series was deadlocked at 0-0. He came on to bowl with Salman Butt taking strike.

The southpaw missed the first delivery and them let go the next two deliveries. Irfan made him play the fourth delivery, It was a sensational outswinger which took his edge and was brilliantly taken by Virender Sehwag at the slip cordon.

Now, it was the turn of experienced campaigner Younis Khan to fall to another inswinger from Pathan.

The ball came back sharply and thudded on to his pads. The on-field umpire Simon Taufel had no hesitation in ruling it in favour of India. It was the final delivery of the over which was arguably the best of the lot.

Mohammad Yousuf was out in the middle and Irfan treated with a Jaffer of an inswinger. The ball went through his bat and pads and it was prodigious swing on display. It will forever remain one of the greatest first overs in world cricket. Despite his heroics, India went on to lose the match by a big margin.

Michael Holding- vs England, 1981:

It was the third Test of England’s tour of Windies in 1981. The home team was bowled out for just 265 in their first essay. For England, it was Geoffrey Boycott and Graham Gooch, who opened the innings.

Holding was introduced into the attack in the second over of the innings.

Batter Boycott was on strike and he narrowly survived in the first delivery.

Interestingly, the second delivery was simply unplayable and he had no clue about it. The third delivery squared him up and hit him in the pads. He somehow managed to keep out the next two deliveries.

However, the final delivery was the best of the lot which uprooted Boycott’s stumps from the ground.

Also, it turned out a remarkable of a delivery which would have breached the defence of any top class batsman owing to one of the sensational overs.