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Remember When Curtly and Courtney Destroyed Australia?

For Australians, it still ranks as the most painful single run that never was. Fifteen years ago on January 26 - Australia Day for those who tend not to celebrate it - Craig McDermott was caught behind off Courtney Walsh for 18 to end a last-wicket stand of 40 with Tim May.

The decision - made by Darrell Hair in those innocent days before neutral umpires: and look where they have got us - meant West Indies had won the fourth Test at Adelaide and thus squared the five-match series at 1-1. And when Curtly Ambrose destroyed Australia in the decider at Perth with that spell of seven for one in 32 balls, West Indies had hung on to the Frank Worrell Trophy by the skin of their teeth. Yet again. Forget Edgbaston 2005: this was Australia's real sickener.

Wisden records that McDermott "gloved a catch" but adds that Allan Border, Australia's captain, felt the decision was "a very close one". So what really happened on the day that in effect prolonged the handover of power from West Indies to Australia for another two years? "Courtney bowled me that short ball and it followed me a bit," McDermott tells the latest issue of Inside Edge magazine. "I still say it touched my helmet, not my glove." So far, so clear.

Then May, the non-striker, gives his version of events. "I couldn't really see from my end because Craig sort of turned his back as he swayed away from the ball," he says. "There was a noise and when we were walking off Craig said he hit it. But the next day he said he didn't and he maintained that since. So I've always been a bit confused." Which is slightly less clear than the view May had of the dismissal. An uncharitable interpretation is that McDermott did not want to provide fuel for those who thought he was frightened of the short ball. A generous one says his emotions were scrambled at the time and clarity did not emerge until 24 hours after the incident.

The Spin invites readers to draw their own conclusions.