Background and career
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire, the Melbourne Stars and Australia. Warne is regarded by many cricket players, statisticians and sporting analysts as not just the greatest ever leg spinner, but one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket. Warne also played for and coached the Rajasthan Royals, including captaining the team to victory in the inaugural season of the IPL. He made 145 Test appearances, taking 708 wickets, and set the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, a record he held until 2007. Warne was a useful lower-order batsman who scored more than 3,000 Test runs, with a highest score of 99. Warne was a member of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup. He retired from international cricket at the end of Australia's 2006–07 Ashes series victory over England. Warne published his autobiography, No Spin, in 2018. Warne revolutionised cricket thinking with his mastery of leg spin, then regarded as a dying art. After retirement, he regularly worked as a cricket commentator and for charities and endorsed commercial products. During his career, Warne was involved in off-field scandals including a ban from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance, a colourful personal life and interactions with gambling figures. On 4 March 2022, Warne died of a heart attack at the age of 52, while on holiday in Thailand. After his death, many tributes and memorials were made to Warne, both in his home city of Melbourne and elsewhere in the cricketing world. Warne was posthumously appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his service to cricket.
Warne was born in Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, on 13 September 1969, the son of Brigitte (née Szczepiak) and Keith Warne. His mother was born in Germany of a German mother and a Polish father who had migrated to Germany as a teenager. According to his autobiography, when Warne was in kindergarten, another boy jumped on his back and broke both his legs. He used a trolley powered by his arms to get around for 12 months, which he credited for his wrist strength. He attended Hampton High School from Grades 7–9 before being offered a sports scholarship to attend Mentone Grammar, where he spent his final three years of school.
Warne's first representative honours came in the 1983–84 season when he represented University of Melbourne Cricket Club in the Victorian Cricket Association's under-16 Dowling Shield competition. He bowled a mixture of leg-spin and off-spin, and was a handy lower-order batsman. The following season, Warne joined St Kilda Cricket Club, which is located near his home suburb Black Rock. He started in the lower elevens and, over a number of seasons, progressed to the first eleven. During the cricket off-season in 1987, Warne played five games of Australian rules football for St Kilda Football Club's under-19s team. In 1988, Warne again played for the St Kilda Football Club's under-19 team before being promoted to the reserves team, one step below professional level, where he played a single game. The same year, he also kicked 7 goals in the under-19s in St Kilda's round 10 game against Hawthorn. Following the 1988 Victorian Football League season, St Kilda delisted Warne and he began to focus solely on cricket. In 1989, Warne had a six-month stint in Bristol, playing for the Imperial Cricket Club in the Western League, where he took 49 wickets at 15.22. While playing in Bristol, Warne lived in the attic of the pavilion of the cricket club. In 1990, Warne was chosen to train at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide. Warne struggled with the discipline at the academy and left following disagreements with management. In 1991, Warne joined Accrington Cricket Club of the Lancashire League as their professional player for that year's cricket season. After initially struggling in English conditions, he had a good season as a bowler, taking 73 wickets at 15.4 runs each but scored only 329 runs at an average of 15. The committee at Accrington decided not to re-engage Warne for the 1992 season because they expected their professional to contribute as both a batsman and bowler. Warne was recalled to the Australian Cricket Academy in 1992, where he honed his leg spin abilities under former Australian Test spinner Terry Jenner. Jenner is credited with harnessing Warne's raw talents and coaching him to become more professional in his preparation and approach to the game. Warne was selected for the Australia B team, which toured Zimbabwe in September 1991. In the second tour match at Harare Sports Club, Warne recorded his first first-class score of five wickets or more in an innings when he took 7/49 in the second innings, helping Australia B to a nine-wicket win. In December 1991, upon returning to Australia, Warne took 3/14 and 4/42 for Australia A against a touring West Indian team.
Warne made his first-class cricket debut on 15 February 1991, taking 0/61 and 1/41 for Victoria against Western Australia at Junction Oval in Melbourne. Warne captained Victoria in the 1999–00 season and was appointed again for the 2002–03 season. Over his career, Warne made 76 appearances for Victoria and claimed 161 first-class wickets at 34.72 and 43 List A wickets at 27.93. Warne signed a $400,000 contract to play for Hampshire County Cricket Club in England for the 2000 season. He returned to Hampshire as the captain for the seasons between 2004 and 2007. Warne made 139 total appearances for Hampshire. For Hampshire he scored his only two first-class centuries and took 276 wickets at an average of 25.58. He also claimed 120 wickets at 19.72 List A wickets for Hampshire.
Warne made his international debut on 2 January 1992 in the third Test match between Australia and India. Peter Taylor, the incumbent spinner in the Australian Test team, had taken only one wicket in the first two Tests, so Warne was brought into the team for the match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Warne had played seven first-class matches before making his Test debut for Australia. He took 1/150 (Ravi Shastri caught by Dean Jones for 206) off 45 overs. Warne took 0/78 in the fourth Test in Adelaide, recording overall figures of 1/228 for the series, and was dropped for the fifth Test on the pace-friendly WACA Ground in Perth. Australia toured Sri Lanka in mid-1992. Warne's poor form continued in the first innings against Sri Lanka at Colombo, in which he recorded 0/107. On 22 August 1992, however, Warne took the last three Sri Lankan wickets without conceding a run in the second innings, leading to a second-innings collapse and contributing to a 16-run Australian win. Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga commented in an interview; "a bowler with Test average of more than 300 came and snatched the victory from our hands". Despite his match-winning spell, Warne was left out of the second Sri Lanka Test before taking 0/40 in the third-and-final Test of the series. Warne was again left out of the First Test against the West Indies in the 1992–93 Australian season. Greg Matthews played in Warne's place; despite Australia being in a strong position on the final day, they could not dismiss the West Indies on a turning surface. Warne was recalled for the Second Test in Melbourne, a Boxing Day Test in which he took 7/52 in a match-winning performance in the second innings. In February and March 1993, Warne took 17 wickets at an average of 15.05 in Australia's tour of New Zealand, tying Danny Morrison as the top wicket-taker for the series. On 24 March, Warne made his One Day International debut at Wellington, taking two wickets. In 1993, Warne was selected for Australia's Ashes tour of England. His first ball of the series, at Old Trafford, was called the "Ball of the Century". Warne bowled experienced English batsman Mike Gatting, with a ball that drifted through the air and then turned from well outside leg stump to clip the off bail. Warne claimed 34 wickets in his first Ashes series, leading all bowlers, at an average of 25.79. Australia won the six Test series 4–1. When New Zealand toured Australia for three Tests in November and December, Warne took 18 wickets and was named Player of the Series as Australia won the three Test series 2–0. Warne took 72 Test wickets in 1993, a then-record for a spin bowler in a calendar year. Almost all of the 72 wickets were English and New Zealand batsmen. Warne featured in South Africa's tour of Australia in 1993–94 and Australia's return tour in March 1994. In the second Test of South Africa's tour at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Warne took ten wickets in a Test for the first time in his career. His 7/56 in the first innings and 5/72 in the second was not enough to secure victory for Australia; on the Test's final day, Warne was part of an Australian batting collapse and South Africa won the Test. Both of the three Test series were drawn 1–1. Warne was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1994 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Warne joined the Australian tour of Pakistan in September and October 1994, where Pakistan defeated Australia 1–0 in the three Test series. Warne collected 18 wickets at an average of 28.00 to lead all bowlers for the tour. The tour became controversial, however, when it emerged in early 1995 that the Pakistani captain, Saleem Malik, had approached Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May to throw the game during the First Test. Malik was alleged to have offered Warne and May US$200,000 each to avoid taking wickets. The Australians did not accept the bribe, however Pakistan would narrowly win the game anyway, as Ian Healy missed a stumping down the leg side. Australia sought to retain the Ashes when England toured for a five-Test series in 1994–95. Warne took a career-best 8/71 in the second innings of the first Test at Brisbane Cricket Ground (the Gabba), before taking 27 wickets in the five-Test series. In the Second Test, a Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, he took his first and only Test hat-trick, dismissing tail-enders Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm in successive balls, the last of which was caught by David Boon. Warne also took his 150th Test wicket, a caught-and-bowled off Alec Stewart. In the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he and fellow tail-ender Tim May survived the final 19 overs in fading light on the fifth day to secure a draw and a 2–0 series lead, that meant Australia would take an unassailable lead in the series.
Later in 1995, Warne toured the West Indies, taking 15 wickets in four Tests as Australia defeated the West Indies in a Test series for the first time in almost 20 years. Without Damien Fleming and Craig McDermott, Warne partnered with an inexperienced Glenn McGrath, Paul Reiffel and Brendon Julian. In a series dominated by the ball, the Windies did not pass 300 runs in any innings. In the Australian summer of 1995–96, Australia played home series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Warne took 11 wickets in the first Test against Pakistan but broke his toe in the second. Selectors included him in the squad for the third Test days later to give him the chance to prove his fitness. Warne took four wickets in Pakistan's first innings and another four in their second, and was named the player of the series. Warne took 12 wickets against Sri Lanka across the three Tests. Australia won both series. Warne was a key member of Australia's squad for the 1996 Cricket World Cup, which was held in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Warne took 12 wickets, including a man of the match 4/36 in the semi-final against the West Indies, and Australia qualified for the final. Warne conceded 58 runs for no wickets in the final as Australia lost the match to first-time champions Sri Lanka. The West Indies toured Australia for a five-Test series in the southern summer of 1996–97, which Australia won 3–2. Warne took 22 wickets in the series. In the One Day series, Warne collected his only ODI five-for, against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, cleaning up the middle-order and tail to finish with 5/33. Warne took 11 wickets in Australia's three Test tour of South Africa in early 1997 as Australia won 2–1. In the northern summer of 1997, Warne returned to England with the Australian team to play for the Ashes. After struggling for form early in the tour, he turned in his best results for the series in the Third Test at Old Trafford where he would bag nine wickets. In the Fifth Test at Trent Bridge, Warne claimed seven wickets as Australia clinched the Ashes. Warne took 24 wickets through the series at an average of 24.04 and finished second to paceman Glenn McGrath in the wicket-taking. Australia won the six Test series 3–2. In the Australian summer of 1997–98, Warne took 19 wickets in New Zealand's three-Test series in Australia and 20 wickets in three Tests against South Africa, in the second of which he took five wickets in the first innings and six in the second, becoming the second Australian after Dennis Lillee to take 300 Test wickets. In late 1997, Australian media criticised Warne for his weight; however, The Australian wrote he was one of Australia's three most-influential cricketers, the others being Donald Bradman and Lillee. In early 1998, Warne was a member of Australia's touring squad of India. Finding Indian food not to his liking, he had tinned spaghetti and baked beans flown in from Australia. Australia's two top pace bowlers Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie missed the tour due to injury, leaving Warne to bowl more overs than usual. He took 10 wickets but conceded 54 runs each, going for 0/147 in India's only innings of the second Test at Eden Gardens, Calcutta. Warne's dismissal of Rahul Dravid in the first innings of the final Test at Bangalore took him past Lance Gibbs' tally of 309 wickets, making Warne the most-successful spin bowler in Test Cricket. Australia lost the series, breaking a run of nine Test series wins. Warne did not play international cricket in the later part of 1998, requiring shoulder reconstruction surgery. In early December 1998, the Australian Cricket Board announced that three years earlier it had fined Warne and Mark Waugh for accepting money from a bookmaker for information about pitch and weather conditions during a 1994 ODI tour of Sri Lanka, in the 'John the bookmaker' controversy. Warne missed Australia's tour of Pakistan and the first four Ashes Tests. During Warne's extended absence from the Australian team, his understudy Stuart MacGill played in his place, taking 15 wickets in three Tests against Pakistan and another series-high 27 wickets against England. Warne returned to international cricket in the fifth Test of the Ashes series in Australia in January 1999. Upon Warne's return, he and MacGill bowled in tandem to the team for the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where MacGill took twelve wickets and Warne two.
