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Ryno's magic ball 25 years in the making

On the day of his retirement, Ryan Harris muses on the ball for which he will always be remembered

It was the ball that provided one of the definitive images of Australia’s five-nil whitewash of 18 months ago and saw the Ashes change hands for the first time in almost a decade.

With new ball in hand and a nation behind him, Ryan Harris began England’s second innings of the urn-deciding Test in Perth with his candidate for ball of the 21st Century by tilting back rival skipper Alastair Cook’s off-stump.

Harris produced the ball of the series to knock over Cook in Perth

And on the day that a chronic knee injury forced him out of the game, Harris recalled that moment when Australia’s stranglehold on the Ashes tightened and he assured himself a place on every highlights reel that summer of 2013-14 spawned.

“It only took 25 years to bowl it,” Harris recalled today of the ball that fits pretty much every criteria of the term ‘unplayable’.

“That was just a lucky ball that lands in the right spot, hits the right spot and swings away before it passes the batter, which doesn't usually happen.”

Harris went on to collect 22 wickets in Australia's Ashes whitewash

Harris’s Australia teammate Steve Smith noted today in his exclusive blog for cricket.com.au that, even when bowling in the nets, Harris was forever searching for the perfect delivery.

And was known to vent his frustration at himself when he failed to meet his own lofty standards.

It’s an assessment Harris agrees, without hesitation.

Ryan Harris' retirement press conference

“I'm always hard on myself,” he conceded in his farewell media conference in an Australia players’ shirt.

“I set high standards for myself.

“Bowling my line and length is what I do best, and I always try to limit error balls because I hated going for runs.

“I was always a hard marker but if you go into the dressing room and speak to the bowlers they're all pretty similar.”

Much like if you went into any Test team’s dressing room and asked them to nominate a delivery they would like to replicate to start an innings, most would nominate that ball that Harris landed against Cook during a most memorable summer.

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