Shane Warne: Australian leg-spin legend
Shane Warne was not just a colourful personality in cricket. He was one of those sportsmen who was renowned for his on-field exploits as much as hiss off-field exploits. However, his contribution to cricket goes beyond his record-setting 708 Test wickets.
Warne revitalised and redefined the dying art of leg-spin. His excellent control, guile, variations and ability to turn the ball square on many pitches made him an excellent attacking option who could also contain batsmen.
The chubby leggie from Victoria could have done what he wanted with a cricket ball. The Aussie leg-spinner could bowl the leg-break, googly and flipper. Before Warne, leg-spin had gone through a dark era. There were few true exponents of the art, with only Pakistan's Abdul Qadir keeping the flame flickering between 1977 and 1993. Warne took the flame from Qadir and set the cricket world alight. Indisputably, he is the best leg-spinner of all-time; some might argue that he is the best spinner of any kind.
Ball of the century
Career highlights
World records: Most Test wickets
Warne was the first bowler to take 600 wickets. He even went one better, becoming the first man to 700 as well. Warne briefly held the record for most Test wickets, before being overtaken by Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan. He ended with 708 Test wickets.
Ball of the century
The Ashes is the most cherished iconic series in world cricket, and Warne chose to make an unforgettable mark with his first ball on English soil in 1993. Warne stated that he was nervous - given the auspicious nature of the series. Warne bowled a delivery that pitched outside of Mike Gatting's leg stump, turned a mile and knocked his off-stump. Gatting didn't even know what happened.
Shane Warne battering Andrew Symonds
Warne the batsman
Warne was no rabbit with the bat. In fact, he was a capable lower-order batsman, coming in at Number 8 in a strong Aussie batting line-up. The leggie almost scored a Test century (99), just missing out against New Zealand at Perth in 2001. Warne had four Test half-centuries over 85 - among 12 Test fifties. His Test batting and First-class averages suggested unrealised potential with the willow.
Batting records
Match type
| Matches
| Runs
| High score
| Average
| 100s
| 50s
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Test
| 145
| 3154
| 99
| 17.32
| 0
| 12
|
ODI
| 194
| 1018
| 55
| 13.05
| 0
| 1
|
First-class
| 301
| 6919
| 107*
| 19.43
| 2
| 26
|
List A
| 311
| 1879
| 55
| 11.81
| 0
| 1
|
Twenty20
| 58
| 210
| 34*
| 9.54
| 0
| 0
|
Source: Cricinfo
Shane Warne bamboozling Andrew Strauss
Bowling records
There are not enough superlatives to describe the bowling of Shane Warne. Warne's combination of control, variation and guild yielded many wickets; he was a match-winner in all forms of the game. While many of his best deliveries came in Test matches, he has a fantastic record in limited-overs games as well. Leg-spinners are expected to be expensive wicket-takers, but Warne usually kept batsmen quiet until he got their wicket. In ODIs, his economy rate was just 4.25, yet he took a wicket every 36 balls.
Bowling records
Match type
| Matches
| Wickets
| BBI
| BBM
| Avg
| Economy
| Strike rate
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Test
| 145
| 708
| 8/71
| 12/128
| 25.41
| 2.65
| 57.4
|
ODI
| 194
| 293
| 5/33
| 5/33
| 25.73
| 4.25
| 36.3
|
First-class
| 301
| 1319
| 8/71
| 26.11
| 2.76
| 56.7
| |
List A
| 311
| 473
| 6/42
| 6/42
| 24.61
| 4.25
| 34.7
|
Twenty20
| 58
| 59
| 4/21
| 4/21
| 25.79
| 7.21
| 21.4
|
Source: Cricinfo
Warne was as famous as he was infamous. Explicit texts, the 2003 ban for a poisitive drug test and the loss of the Australian vice-captaincy before that were low-lights of his career. In addition, the portly leggie had regular run-ins with the authorities. He even referred to former Aussie coach John Buchanan's training camp as a boot camp. While the leg spinner's off-field antics have garnered headlines throughout his career, his on-field exploits would take precedence in the memories of fans - even fans who did not love him.
