Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Cricket great Warne dead at 52
AUSTRALIA’S Shane Warne mixed legendary cricket deeds with lurid headlines away from the pitch in a career as bewitching as his famed wrong ’un.
Warne, who has died at the age of 52 from a suspected heart attack, was never one for half-measures throughout his extraordinary 15-year Test career.
The greatest leg-spinner of them all carved out a flamboyant lifestyle cast outside the mould of a traditional cricketing icon, often putting himself at odds with the game’s purists.
Warne did things his way and will be remembered for his dalliances and forthright opinions as much as for his pioneering 708 Test wickets in a 145-Test career that made him the scourge of batsmen worldwide.
Warne is entrenched in Australia’s sporting pantheon.
His contribution to cricket is not in doubt, notably after he resurrected the waning art of leg-spin, becoming the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets.
Warne riveted the cricketing world with the “ball of the century”.
His first leg-break delivery in an Ashes Test turned viciously to bamboozle England’s Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993, heralding the arrival of a cricketing superstar.
He was a master of mind games, targeting batsmen ahead of a series and warning he was working on a new mystery ball to bowl out his “bunnies” in the opposition.
He gave a man-of-the-match performance when Australia won the World Cup in 1999, and was known for a sharp and inventive cricketing brain.
But even Warne himself once described his life as a soap opera.
“Warney”, also nicknamed “Hollywood”, survived drug and bookmaking scandals and pursued an energetic love life which is widely thought to have cost him the Australian captaincy.
A series of infidelities culminated in the public break-up from his wife of 10 years, Simone, with whom he had three children.
His performance in Australia’s failed Ashes campaign in England in 2005 is regarded by some pundits as the pinnacle of his career, when he overcame his disintegrating marriage and a tabloid frenzy to take 40 wickets.
Warne continued playing after ending his Test career in January 2007 and scripted a title triumph with a rag-tag Rajasthan Royals team in the Indian Premier League’s first edition in 2008, highlighting his nous and motivational skills.
Off-field troubles spoiled his valedictory season.
He had an ugly spat with a cricket administrator, a tiff with Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar, and appeared dejected in his final matches after criticising the pitch used at home games.
Warne then returned home to help launch Australia’s Big Bash League, and was instrumental in lifting the profile of the domestic Twenty20 league.
Warne was inducted into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame at Lord’s in 2013.