Steve Harmison Vs Michael Clarke

[flobbingdonkey]

I think given the man, given the moment, given the series, this was one of the greatest balls ever bowled. Its certainly up there with that one from Shane Warne to Mike Gatting.

[MILE2k11]

absolute jaffer!!

[qprpope]

one of the great balls

[ianwilson2007]

that was one of the slowest slower balls I've ever seen from a fast bowler. Curtly Ambrose did Ian Healy with a similar one in an ODI

[mrbollocks1979]

Clarke is better than Bradman.

[krishu1997]

@mrbollocks1979 lol that was a joke rite?

[hardyischamp]

The greatest test match of ALL times.period

[vanmaarwijk]

he was such an amazing bowler, sad what happend to him

[Neversaydie077]

Nothing spectacular about it... just a slower ball that caught Clarke playing early.

[ABH1297]

@Neversaydie077 like a changeup. I know im a stupid american making a baseball reference :P

[triplebettslord]

@Neversaydie077 It was a perfect length and that it was made it such a great ball. He drew Clarke forward and got it under his bat. Not to mention that like Mark said in commentary; given the moment and the batsman, that really was a terrific change-up.

[G00n3r4Life]

@Neversaydie077 Done enough to win the ashes sunshine

[capio78]

Clarke is the aussies main man now... when they're struggling he's the one you can't get out... just like Ponting has been for 15 years and Steve Waugh before him.

[jackfulham33]

mark nicolas = dousche

[neilus]

i gotta say, why does everybody hate him so much? When Cricket was on BBC ther ewas Illingworth, Benaud etc...then it was TMS all the way, I heard him commentate live on a few WI and Pakistan tours and he was ok...

[1137moiz]

@neilus because he's so annoying...thespian theatrics and always seems likely he's trying to compete with other sports.

[colonelwalker]

lol one of the great balls, mark nicholas is a legend.

[woodamler]

played for Hampshire aswell, one of the greats!

[dboy0189]

Aussies are exposed with no bowling and batting i think their time is over like the great West indies know South Africa ,SriLanka, Pakistan & India are ready to take over !!!

[EdgeStormcrow]

Aussies are down?

englishmen forget 2007 too quickly!

well be back in spades. (hopefully minus ponting)

[chefblanc]

in 07 the team was put together at the last minute and in dissaray, anyone would have beat that side and the aging ozzies did!

[SumFallGrace]

Are you joking?

Ponting is not a cricketer, he is THE cricketer.

Legend.

[triplebettslord]

@SumFallGrace Tendulkar is a little better, but there wasn't much in it up until recently.

[Stephend83]

@EdgeStormcrow what happened in june

[sadamjavaid]

aussies r down now at last

[Hursthouse2912]

Well, at least this aussie batsman 'walked'.....worth recording in itself.

Too much 'not guilty ' heritage......lol

[Dylsters]

Watta Ball! and im not sayin it coz im english or that i hate australia

[abfab114]

One of the great balls.........

[Battsamubble]

Man I love that ball :D

[LoudHoward]

The cool thing from this is that Clarke went away and made himself a better batsmen. It's the times like these that make his current innings such a joy to watch, he's matured so much!

[david870mdg]

Good on Harmison. Clarke is rubbish.

[stmad10]

Hehe...Clarke is leading scorer this series, and your team was humiliated in 2 1/2 days.

[darkbluemountain]

Clarke leading scorer? I don't think so, Andrew Strauss is leading scorer and man of the series.

[desweller]

This was mint.

I heard it on TMS whilst driving down the M4 to London, and almost crashed the car! Superb.

[vanlal007]

good bowl

[flobbingdonkey]

I would have to put this in the top 5 dismissals of modern times i think

[elliotg25]

One of my favourite deliveries of all time. Wonderfully executed slower ball yorker.

[vicavox]

Not just the execution, but the deliveries prior to this, which were short hostile 90mph+ rippers to soften up Clarke, and then to bowl such a slower ball as the last ball of the day...Harmison plucked the idea completely from left field and it paid such dividends. I won't say this is the ball that gave England The Ashes but without it they may not have won the Edgbaston Test. What a game it was.

[innitman777]

best ball ever bowled in test cricket, beats warnes first ball against gatting. To bowl a slower ball takes guts but to get a yorker in as well ... totally awesome. Should deffinately play a part in the forth coming ashes tests

[doddz13]

Clarke had batted brilliant but was deceived by a GREAT delivery. If it was any other bowler it would be a great delivery just Harmy haters here. That delivery gave England a massive advantage or with Clarke still in the Aussies would of went on to win IMO. Great delivery

[woodamler]

Ok Mate, But lets see what will happen in this years Ashes & just for a tiny fact: Harmison WONT be playing!

[woodamler]

Yea, It was a GOOD ball, Not Great!

[andywaggott]

It was a great ball: Last over of the day after the previous four or five balls had gone through at over 90mph, What would you have prefered to see from a fast bowler?! It allowed England to win that game and the Ashes.

[FantasticMrF0x]

yeah, they woulda knocked them off the next morning if it wasnt for this ball. this ball won us the ashes

[PaulPower4]

ISTR it was a slower ball yorker rather than just a slower ball. So maybe that makes it slightly greater :p.

[skaterrr]

This was the ball that swung the Ashes.

[raff23]

yep have to agree here, clarke was batting well and had he been in the next day the aussies would have won the 2nd test.

[Defunkt25]

Man good slower ball, totally tricked pup!

[woodamler]

I admit it was a GOOD ball, but not great, I knew i was late in the day, little varation used, and Harmison bowled a slower ball, which decieved Clarke hence playing down thw wrong line, i Know that, but it wasn't anywhere nere a great ball,It wasn't Unplayeble or anything in that catagory, but Clarke was decieved by its pace, hence why he played

early and got balled, thats really when slower

balls come in, Clarke had a big score and had

not faced that ball yet but when he did, he was

decieved

[ashdrohan]

so shorley it was a great ball because he decieved the batsmen and got his wicket?

[pritampaulsingh]

my frnd.....harmy has never been a thinking bowler so coming from him it was indeed a gr8 delivery.......it deceived the batsman at an important juncture......so yeah it was great delivery......in hindsight no delivery wud appear unplayable.....it's the context which matters

[woodamler]

Yes, Clarke didn't know that a slower ball was coming because Harmy had been bowling 150 kph in that over. WTF is such a fuss about? It's defenitly not 1 of the GREAT balls, The ball was Great but will never compare to any GREAT ball!

[danbo1984]

Stop talking rubbish, you clown; of course it's a great ball, because of the match/series context in which it was bowled. Key thing was that Harmison brought his arm down at the same speed as the previous deliveries, so Clarke was expecting a ball of the same speed, but released the ball slightly earlier. So, more flight, slower ball, beautiful wicket.

[woodamler]

Piss off you piece of shit, it was a great ball then, are you happy now you stupid twat? Harmison is 150 kp/h bowler and occasionally throws in a ball simillar to this this that is unexpected but Clarke was young and it was his first Ashes, Harmison is more experienced and used it to good use. So go get your fucking brain sorted out you useless asswipe! Ahrr, Shame, Mommy gotta make u feel better? I thought so you overgrown CLOWN. Go jump off a balcony or shoot urself

[danbo1984]

I note from your profile that you're 39; probably about time you started acting your age and stopped using Youtube as a forum for your foul-mouthed ramblings. A small tip for you: until you've got something decent/worthwhile/interesting to add, why not try going away and joining an anger management course?

[woodamler]

and why dont you mind your own business? A small phrase for you: Age is just a number!!

And secondly, I'm not a foul-mouthed type of person but if you read through my profile carfully you would have seen this: If you mess with me, I'll mess with you!!

[tmanhigh]

also you make comments about how if you're going to bowl a slower ball then you may aswel bowl spin... that makes no sense... in no was is Harmison trying to rip one between bat and pad or get any great turn, he's just deceiving the batsman with a slower ball... hence Clarke was through his shot way too early and missed it... playing across the line requires perfect timing.

As for Nathan Bracken... these are ODI's he's playing in... batsman expect variation, so you can sometimes get 'smoked'

[woodamler]

Assface, if you play cricket you should know,

so dont sit in your chair and type these comments,their much,much better balls then that ball, Shane Warne, bowled a beauty both to Mike Gatting and Andrew Strauss, that ball had no swing and was a normal ball, so shut up, and play the game, instead of typing

comments!

[tmanhigh]

Clearly someone doesnt have a clue. Yes, there has been better balls... but this ball was still great. Given the timing of the wicket, to a set batsman, who otherwise could easily have gone on to take the game away from England. At that time Harmison was one of the most feared pace bowlers going, so to have the intelligence to slip in a slower ball at that moment was great.

[woodamler]

There was nothing special about that ball, for Petes Sake! Harmison bowled at the stumps,

Clarke tried to flick it on the on-side and missed the ball, simple as that, i've seen that happen to many batsmen, its called playing down the wrong line! Anyway if you want to bowl stupid "Slower Balls" You should rathar

bowl spin. Check out Bracken, he uses the

slower ball almost every ball and South Africa

was smoking him!

[doza2112]

you really dont know anything aout cricket do you

[woodamler]

I dont care, it wasnt a great ball, what ever you have to say, shut ur mouth, it wasnt a great ball,its like im bowling to open wickets, just hitting, Clarke Simply played down the wrong line, anyway Steve Harmison sucks! Slower balls are for pommies, you need to bowl with seam if you are a quickey, If your figures are for example in a ODI 8-0-100-0, u can use

the slower ball for variation, so u wont get smoked around anyway a slower ball means

nothing, variation comes in bad games.

[Anteater1234567]

He was playing to the on side, and across the line, and missed because he played early. Anyway, don't believe that Australian bowlers are too stupid to use slower balls either.

[woodamler]

Thats a great ball, hahahaha! that was a S*it ball!

it just was accurate and Clarke played down the wrong line ?! I remember when i bowled a bal lfor my club in a local T20 Match, the ball pitched very wide outside the off-stump and swung like a rocket back in (it was a Right-Hander.)And smashed Middle and Leg If you had to see it, i was so fuc*ing

amazed! LOL. the umpire oringinatly called it a

wide!!

[carlwod]

That would be seam not swing. And if it was true it most likely hit something on the pitch or the seam/ball was damaged.

[jontycooke]

You know nothing. Michael Clarke was threatening to take the game away from England - it was late in the day and its safe to say if he's survived the night then the gam would have ended a draw. Harmison was bowling quick but slipped in a slower ball and completely did the batsman over. End result - England win... so simples - your wrong it was a great ball.

[mrbennnn]

I'm not so sure on the 'great batting form' of England as of late. Those West Indian pitches could've seen a sunday cricketer score a century against any of the bowlers there.

That said, I think Strauss and Collingwood have rediscovered their form and the batting isn't too much of a worry.

It's how we're going to (try to) take wickets.

Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann are the only two to make a name in recent years that are worthy.

[bobbythelord]

yeah im an aussie and i was watching England in the West Indies and im worried about swann because HArris was troubling us and i think swann is a better bowler his variations are great adn we are really missing a good batter at number six at the moment

[filoboy88]

Look lets just all agree england and aus played a very good series in 05 its all history now we should look forward to the 09 series and it should be good contest with an inexperienced australia side vs an england side whos batting is in good form atm

[tkw251070]

As an Englishman I think the recent decline in Australian cricket is a blip. The system in Australia is too strong, the attitude is right, and Australian selectors select for their country. In England the selection is a joke, the structure is wrong and the attitude stinks. Yeah, the baggy greens are not the great side they were, but then you've lost Martyn, Haydos, Langer, Gilly, Warne, McGrath, Dizzy. Lee is injured and out of form. However, Aus will still be a tough unit to beat this year.

[tkw251070]

My concern for the summer is not failing batsmen, we seem to be getting some strength again. It's our attack, it does not seem to be able to take 20 wickets. If Jones is brought back, Flintoff is fit and Harmy can exploit the English conditions then we might have another 2005. A close, tense, toughly fought series. If Australia win in SAfrica, which I think they will, then it might be a bit harder for England as confidence will be high and a result there would suggest form.

[sa17ma18ra]

in good form? hhahaha yu make me laugh. England will be in the cooker the whole series, australia are inexperianced but they are learning there old ways again!

[filoboy88]

normally when australia outplay another team they destroy them like win by an innings or win within three days or win by 10 wickets so full credit to australia for showing the fighting spirit

[filoboy88]

when you look at it and think about how great england were and how poor the aussies were in how they played swing and dropped catches all in all utterly outplayed but in the end of the day england only just scrapped home in the two tests they won. yes aussies were outplayed in every department but they only lost by 2 runs in edgbaston and 3 wkts at trent bridge

[tkw251070]

What about the two tests where England were well up but the matches were drawn because of rain. Had it not rained in those test it could have been 4-1. This series could have been 2-1 either way, but it wasn't. Can't you just say well done England? I have heard 5 different excuses from Australians why England were lucky or did not deserve to win in 2005. In the following Ashes when we were done 5-0, I say fair play Aus. You did your homework and rolled over us. I respect that.

[l2read]

not to mention they shoudlnt have even lost in edgbaston if it wasnt for a terrible umpiring decision

[filoboy88]

Its not that im trying to put england down I have even mentioned myself on other posts how great england were in that series I was just trying to positively comment about the aussies to all the haters without taking anything away from england. I would even admit what might have been in 06/07 if england had Simon Jones or the captaincy of Vaughan and even trescothick . I think that alone was the real difference between 5-0 or a much closer contest.

[l2read]

All of their bowlers failed in Australia, Even Harmison whom shouldve prospered from Australian pitches. Simon Jones was an expert in english conditions, Getting reverse hapenning on Australian pitches with a kookaburra ball wouldve been a much different story

[lma1990]

aaah! that was a brutal ball :)

just wish he cud bowl like he could when he was world no 1 still :(

[willmcc]

Until Harmison learns to bowl outside of Englnad he is nothing but a hack

[LukeEvans26]

Yeah mate 7 for 12 in Jamaica is shite isn't it. The ball is the same weight all around the world and the pitch is the same width.

Horse shit comment.

[james1smith13]

WI is a shit team/

To all the ppl that think that this ball is 'great' are losers. With this ball:

1. His run-up is slower

2. It can be seen that he releases it slower, Clarke was just in bad form in those days.

3. His follow thru is slower

All in all- shit disguise. Ppl wonder why they lost 5-0.

Aussies struggle against swing, not uncontrolled wides and little seam movement.

Please dont include armison in ashes team

[captaintom25]

weird how the vast majority would agree that this ball is 'great' and one litlte man doesnt, then again you must be right you know the Aussies dont like swing!!! Hoorah for fucking you

[postmanpat09]

1st ball of the 06/07 Ashes disagrees with you....

[watcuzurgay]

Harmisons such a sped. He bowled a wide to second slip for the first ball of the Ashes 06/07.

[palnes]

Nice one Harmison ol clarkey was a bit angry after that 1

[saps91]

Yay Im gaaaaaay

I love men

and I love Micheal Clarke

[saps91]

i didn't write that =\

[RyanBachoo]

Fantastic delivery .......

[Bongoinc]

This ball changed the WHOLE series in Englands favour... one of the best

[doddz13]

I think that delivery won them the match. It was a great delivery, shame he couldnt find his old form.

[capsgunshow]

I thought this was the ball of the series, from the quicks! Shame he is mental now, I mean who gets home sick!

[Devilchild7139]

you twat leave him alone the pressure on him not being able to see family for most of the week how would you feel

[capsgunshow]

I would fuking man up and realise that i am playing cricket for my country! Why do you still get home sick if you are away from home for a night.... do you miss your mummy right now? gay

[james1smith13]

ur a shitcunt bro

[barneobanjo]

hes bowling great for Durham ccc at the moment with good pace!

[englandwc06]

Now thats a slower ball.

[cricketbatty]

Harmison the one-hit wonder. Or one-series wonder. No good ever again. Can't get motivated and can't take criticism and therefore can't bowl. To be a fast bowler he needs guts.

[CharmedForeverLove]

aussie only needed 2 more runs

then harmison bowls this

ENGLAAAND!

[TheFishMan92]

2 more runs for what? I think you have your Ashes matches mixed up...

[OutswingAled]

Or at least the period of the match. This was at the end of day 3 and the aussies needed like 80 left with 3 wickets. And -then- Harmison bowled this...englaaaand...

[GPWKay]

GReat delivery but Harmison aint ever going to bowl like that again is he?...i dont think so...If somebody got injured their is Hoggard but for pace and bounce...id probably go for Saj Mahmood or maybe TRemlett but both are erratic at times!

[OutswingAled]

Or how about Broady filling in the gap. He's bowling faster these days too.

[GPWKay]

hmmm.....i like the look of Stuard Broad he offers more to the team now than harmison...but with him in the team already....he jus needs time to develop!!

[super14strauss]

hoggard for pace and bounce are you sure?

[super14strauss]

shame this cunt cant bowl like that anymore

[elliotg25]

That is one of my favourite bowls of all time.

Don't know what's happened to him since then.

[ohyeahohhh]

shit bowl and an even shitter shot cos u can tell at the point of his action, let alone follow through that it was going 2 be a slower ball

[roytheboy68]

oh really, perhaps you should be a Test match batsman in that case. Moron.

[ohyeahohhh]

who says i won't be in the near future u motherfucker?

[benjim0n]

I severely doubt that.

[ohyeahohhh]

dude ur a dumbfuck, u have no idea who i am, i could be next brian lara for all u know, how could u even make a comment like that u fucker?

[captaintom25]

no mate you will not be the next brian lara it is just far to damn obvious

[323646737]

lol...ur a fag we can c that..lol

[kangaroomc]

It doesnt matter how good u are mate, ur clearly just an arrogant wank.

[ZombieSlayer93]

OMG ... You could tell could you ??

[Steviogriffini]

In England Harmisson was unbreakable!

[runescapedumbguy]

slow yorker works all the time (most of the time any way...)

:P

[bonvivant1983]

Clarkey is GOD! But 'twas a damn good delivery!! Think you guys could handle it better??

[Tr33fiddy]

Agreed. He'd roughed him up before hand too and the last thing Clarke expected was that. It was incredible that he managed to execute the whole plan.

Also, not unlike Courtney Walsh's slower ball that started up above the eyeline.

It's not easy to play when a 92mph+ bowler seems to have started the ball at your head...

[rednech23]

what a ball

[northatlanticsalmon]

clarke has a bad eye cant pick anything that comes down.a genuine tailender at number 4.needs to be dropped immediately

[pixieeater]

...muppet

[pubuman]

lol clarke is a n00b

[bufc12]

wat a ball ure such idiots aruguing

[PeterGoDeees]

I like Mark Nichols or what ever his name is but in this he sounds like a spastic lol

[tabbo99990]

fuck u noob

[pubuman]

ur mama is a n00b

[pearljamrock]

clarke is gay