The greatest shot ever played

Picture the scene: Several of us are playing cricket down the driveway of a semi-detached house. The stumps are on the garage door. From the batsman's point of view, the wall of the house runs along the on-side. Behind the bowler's arm, on the opposite side of the road, is a large tree. Behind that is another house.

J was batting...

The ball was quick and full. It spat off the irregular concrete, but J's eye was good. He launched a lofted straight drive.

Having travelled the length of the on-side building, the ball swerved as it crossed the road, passing the tree to the left from the batsman's point of view.

Now here's the really remarkable part. Having swerved one way to avoid the tree, it then swerved back again, behind the tree. The ball had now reached its zenith and began its descent.

Having wowed us with its bizarre powers of swing, the ball now revealed the level of its precision. It continued its journey through the open upstairs window of the house across the road.

There was a brief pause as we all drank in the magnitude of the achievement - a heartbeat perhaps - before the most alert of our number gathered his wits and cried 'scat!'.

And scat we did. For the devil in a red cardigan inhabited that house.