Did Mitchell Johnson bowl Test cricket's greatest ever over?

Big Curtley in Perth is the best fast bowling I ever saw. Incredible! I'll throw another couple of great overs into the mix. Freddie in 2005 at Manchester, I think it was, was a good one (Langer then Ponting gone). But how about Kapil Dev in 1991/1992, I think it was, or thereabouts. Awesome over - Border and Deano both knocked over with the swinging ball. I remember my Dad said at the time that I'd probably never see a greater couple of deliveries in a row than that….

You are forgetting the hatrick over from Peter Siddle in the fist Ahes test at the Gabba a few years ago. The last two batsmen were out LBW. I was there and the roar of the crowd was unbelievable. It was heard from a very log way away. I won't forget that for a long time.

Philander's Spell against AUS in 47 allout Cape Town it was one of the best I have seen,

Only 4 balls/over back then mind you.

I wondered at the time whether that had claims to being the best ever test hat-trick - given it included a reasonably experienced and not bad opening batsman, the world no 1 and a bloke who had been world no 1 not that long before. I don't know what's the greatest ever over, but Johnson's one belongs in the conversation. That series was remarkable for the number of collapses from England - and Johnson managed 2 wickets in an over 4 other times in that series, one of them in the same innings as his 3 wicket over.

Not sure the reasoning about Hadlee is the most sound logic I've ever heard. I'm not sure there's much of a correlation between the strength of the rest of your attack and bowling the "greatest over ever".

A contender for the greatest over ever – Wes Hall’s final over in the tied test. There is a great summation on this article: http://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/west-indies-tour-of-australia-1960-61-the-first-ever-tied-test-20913 6 runs were required off one of those long eight-ball overs used in Australia, and it was the eighteenth to be bowled by Hall. The first ball reared up, hit Grout a crippling blow on the solar plexus and dropped in front of his toes. Benaud scampered across like an Olympic sprinter, and Grout grunted and hobbled in response, clutching his midriff, somehow crawling into the safety of the non-striker’s end. 5 remained off 7 balls. A few overs earlier Worrell had warned Hall to cut down on the bouncers.Now, with Australia a stroke away from victory Benaud stood in front of him, a compulsive hooker and well-set on 52. For some reason, Hall decided to pitch the ball well within the bowler’s half of the pitch. The ball screamed through head high, Benaud hooked, and it went to Gerry Alexander off the glove. Two wickets remained as Benaud walked back. Ian Meckiff patted the ball back quietly back to Hall. 5 were now required from 5 balls. As Hall let go of the next ball, Grout ran with it. Meckiff missed it completely and hared down the wicket as it went through to Alexander. A confused Hall ended up at the batsman’s crease and a calm Worrell at the non-striker’s end preventing overthrows. The end result was a bye. 4 runs remained to be scored from 4 balls. And now, in his second act of direct disobedience of the captain’s instructions, Hall bounced again. Grout, who fancied himself against the short stuff, essayed a hook and the ball ballooned off the top edge. It hovered in the air for an eternity, above the square leg region, with Kanhai and Alexander both in excellent position to pouch it, with lots of time to get there. Worrell later wrote, “How Wes ever got there I will never know,” but the fast bowler had somehow reversed direction from his follow through, galloped down to square-leg, hit Kanhai on the head with his elbow, fumbled with the ball and let it drop to the turf. “The Good Lord’s gone and left us,” Hall exclaimed, startling the square-leg umpire Col Hoy. In all this commotion, batsmen had taken a single, and 3 runs remained to win in 3 balls. Hall charged in again and Meckiff hit hard and high to the leg side. The boundary fence seemed to drag the ball towards it like a magnet. And according to Benaud, it was stopped by one of those outgrowths that had not been mown that morning. The batsmen completed two and turned for what could have been the winning run. Conrad Hunte sprinted to pick the ball up and sent in a spectacular return. Grout dove for the crease, grazing his elbows, but Alexander had the bails off in a flash. The entire ground focused on umpire Hoy, and up went his finger. The scores were tied. During the previous over, Kline had asked Colin McDonald, “I won’t have to go in, will I?” The opener had responded reassuringly, “No, I don’t think so”. And then, as those wickets were lost, Kline had tried to pad up and couldn’t find his gloves. After a desperate search, he discovered he was sitting on them. Now, he took strike and Worrell walked over from mid-off and quietly said to his fast bowler, “Whatever you do Wes, don’t bowl a no-ball. They will never let you back in Barbados.” Hall’s right foot was well behind the line as he hurled down his seventh thunderbolt of the over. Kline timed it beautifully to square leg and the two men started sprinting across the 22 yards. Peter Lashley at midwicket had rushed towards it when he heard, “Move, move, move” from a charging Solomon. It was towards the wrong arm of the Guyanese batsman, and he could see just one stump. But, Solomon pounced on the ball and released it with the same the bull’s eye accuracy that he had shown an over earlier. Meckiff was short of his ground. And pandemonium broke loose. Meckiff thought Australia had lost “Fancy losing like that,” he mouthed to Kline as they walked back morosely. West Indians too thought they had won. It could not be a draw when the batting side was all out in the second innings, could it? On the radio it was announced that West Indies had won by one run. “We were coming off the field a little bit concerned. We knew we hadn’t won, but at the same time we knew we hadn’t lost. It was a little difficult at the time to appreciate things in perspective,” Alexander recalled. It was Don Bradman who came in and told Davidson, “You’ve made history.”

Stokes finished with the highest average on that ill-fated Pommie trip downunder. Though Jim Higgs and Glenn McGrath could have outscored Carberry, Trott, Prior, Broad, etc during that series

In terms of quality batsmen, you couldn't go past Akhtar dismissing Ponting, S.Waugh and M.Waugh in 1 over in the 1st test in Colombo 2002.

And the most amazing ball for me was by Saqlain to Dominic Cork in a test match played in England. It was probably the first time he bowled a doosra. Or rather the first time when the doosra turned enough to be visible even on TV. I remember me, my dad, the commentator all shouted that 'O a leg spin out of nowhere'. Cork was flummoxed.

One particular over bowled by Amar Singh is considered to be the best piece of bowling ever. It was in 1932 in the test match played between India and England.

I remember Sir Richard Hadlee dismembering Dean Jones and then taking his wicket in one memorable over in Adelaide. I forget the year but I'll never forget the over, it finished Jones's test career.

It was a great over and everyone was talking about cricket again and loving it. What happened in the two years since 6 tests six of the flattest wickets you can imagine, johns ons gone, no one is interested in cricket, crowds are poor. CA look around stop producing these roads, people love fast bowling

I'm with you. That was an incredible over - definitely on a par with Johnson's. Only the one wicket, but the way he worked over Kallis was incredible. And that roar of the Edgbaston crowd. One for the ages.

But thats my point, you cant bowl the greatest over ever without awesome competition at an awesome time. There have been quite a few goals scored in football as good as Maradona's against England (the non hand of God one) but that is one of the greatest because of who it was against, when it was and the circumstances of the game. All Johnsons over had was him being brilliant, it wasnt against great batsman and at a great time in a game or series. If all you require of the greatest over is that the bowler bowled his greatest then statistically its almost certainly done in the nets whilst practicing.

I was also going to say that because Hadlee was a basically a lone gunman for New Zealand he probably has bowled the greatest over ever . He most likely had to, however his most famous over maybe the over in which Mike Whitney survived 6 balls to draw a test match. And what a draw it was.

It was a great over no doubt , but in the late 70's early 80's there were many great fast bowlers and and overs. Australia had Lillee Thomson and Hogg. England Willis and Botham West Indies Roberts Holding Croft Garner Marshall and Ambrose Pakistan Imran Waqar Wasim India Dev NZ Hadlee All of these bowlers bowled great overs' Anyone who had the displeasure of sitting up watching the the Ashes in England in 1980 will never forget Botham destroying us with I recall a final spell in which he took 5 for 1 in about 20 deliveries and in the same series when Australia were cruising to victory at 1 for 56 chasing 130 Bob Willis chipped in for 8 for 43. Their must have been 1 great over in that lot. The most memorable and greatest over from an Aussie point of view was by Dennis Lillee in the final over of the first day in the 81/82 Boxing Day Test. Kim Hughes had just hit the best ever 100 by an Australian in a test match in Australia. Not out 100 out of all out 198. (That's what most say) My memory is the Lillee over went for over 10 minutes. Alderman had opener Bacchus out earlier. If I'm wrong forgive me but I think he dismissed Des Haynes early in the over. Out came night watchman Colin Croft and he got him straight away so out came Viv Richards. Viv faced one or two balls and on the last ball of the day Dennis clean bowled Viv West Indies 4 for 10, We won that test and it was the West indies first defeat in 15 test matches.