A red-headed legspinner has delivered Australian cricket a crystal ball.
With a ripping wrong'un gifting a glimpse into the future, South Australian teen Lloyd Pope captured his maiden first-class wicket against NSW.
Pope's stunning ball overshadowed all others at Adelaide Oval on day two of the opening round Sheffield Shield clash.
The Redbacks are 2-113 at stumps, with Jake Lehmann unbeaten on 53 and Callum Ferguson not out 34, in reply to the Blues' 246 all out.
The 18-year-old Pope's wicket during his Shield debut rapidly became an internet sensation.
Pope's googly was Googled far and wide. Posted by the Redbacks on Twitter, it was viewed almost 19,000 times within four hours of ball leaving hand.
Pope's well-flighted ball drifted in slightly to NSW tailender Steven O'Keefe, pitching half-a-metre outside off-stump.
Then it viciously spun back into the pads of the bamboozled O'Keefe, who couldn't get his bat anywhere near the ball and was out plumb lbw.
"It was a bit of plan to the tailenders, to try and turn the ball both ways a little bit more. It worked, I guess, so it's pretty good," Pope said.
Pope is making his debut amid much hype about becoming Australian cricket's next great spinner.
Being a wrist spinner, comparisons have been made with leggie legend Shane Warne.
The buzz has growing since he took 8-35 for Australia in an under-19 World Cup quarter-final last January - the best-ever bowling figures in the tournament.
"It was pretty ridiculous, a lot of people started coming out and giving their opinions," Pope said.
"It is a little bit tricky to try and back yourself if you think something is going right, then you have got 100,000 people telling you're not bowling well or blah blah blah.
"It was quite a different experience."
Pope has met his idol Warne once, during an Adelaide Oval Test match when the retired Test star was commentating.
"It's interesting to see what people say about that (comparison with Warne)," he said.
"I'm probably a little bit of a different bowler ... I turn it a bit less than him and try and bowl a few more variations. There's a few differences."
Pope only started bowling legspin six years ago - he had been a jack-of-all-trades school cricketer, bowling medium-pacers and even trying wicketkeeping.
Then, mucking around in the nets, his dad noticed him land a couple of experimental leggies.
"I just liked bowling it in the nets and got a bit of turn naturally when I first started," he said.
"I managed to take a couple of wickets in my first game and it just went from there."
