M.W. Gatting b Hughes 23

It's the First Test of the 1993 Ashes series, nearing the end of the fourth day. There's a group of us at Old Trafford and England have been set 512 to win - a tall order obviously, but they're going a bit too well for my liking. Though Atherton is out, Gooch and Gatting are looking in command, with the score 130-odd for 1. My spectating companions are all amused that I should think England have any chance at all of winning. Ah, but as Allan Border once said (approximately), 'I've seen some terrible things in cricket'. Merv Hughes is bowling the final over of the day. With the very last ball he bowls Gatting.

Then Gatting played with freedom until he was bowled off his pads from the last ball of the day by the indefatigable Hughes, a due reward for his willingness to vary his line and length. - Wisden 1994

Gatting arrived and seemed in no difficulty until he was dropped by Border - not an easy chance - then he fell to Hughes with the final ball of the day. - Peter Wynne-Thomas and Peter Griffiths, The Australian Tour to England 1993

The smell of victory was in the dressing room, as we prepared ourselves to go 1-0 up in the series. But Gooch had other ideas and, in a defiant act of controlled aggression, ended the day unbeaten on 82, out of a total of 2-133. But England's chances of survival took a major blow on the very last ball of the day when Mike Gatting was bowled by Merv. It appeared Gatt was expecting a bouncer. Instead, Merv beat him with a good-length inswinger - a dismissal that may prove to be the straw that breaks the England side's back. - Steve Waugh's Ashes Diary

Then Gatting and Gooch put on 50-odd before I bowl Gatting with the last ball of the day. - Merv Hughes and Ian Cover, Merv and Me!

Bowling to Gatting, who half-expected a bouncer, [Merv] uprooted the batsman's middle stump with a searing yorker. The TV in the corner of my bedroom was still on, albeit with the volume turned down low. I was dozing, but sat bolt upright as Bill Lawry, even on low volume, roared madly about the dismissal. Merv later said he was trying to bowl a short one but lost his footing and it came out as a yorker. I think he was being modest. - ditto

As for me, I'm simultaneously jumping out of my seat and mildly encouraged towards the idea that Australia just might win.

[For links to the other posts in this series, see here.]