Warne played his first Test match in 1992, and his 708 wickets was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, until it was broken by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan on 3 December 2007. He took over 1000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals)—he was the second bowler to reach this milestone after Muttiah Muralitharan. A useful lower-order batsman, Warne also scored over 3000 Test runs, and he holds the record for most Test runs without a century. His career was plagued by scandals off the field; these included a ban from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance, charges of bringing the game into disrepute through accepting money from bookmakers and marital infidelities.
As well as Australia, he also played Australian domestic cricket for his home state of Victoria, and English domestic cricket for Hampshire. He was captain of Hampshire for three seasons, from 2005 to 2007.
He retired from international cricket in January 2007, at the end of Australia's 5–0 Ashes series victory over England. Three other players integral to the Australian team at the time, Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer, also retired from Tests at the same time which led some, including the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, to declare it the "end of an era".
Following his retirement from international cricket, Warne played a full season at Hampshire in 2007. He had been scheduled to appear in the 2008 English cricket season, but in late March 2008 he announced his retirement from playing first-class cricket in order to be able to spend more time pursuing interests outside of cricket. In March 2008, Warne signed to play in the Indian Premier League for the Jaipur team, Rajasthan Royals in the first edition of the tournament, where he played the roles of both captain and coach. He led his team to victory against the Chennai Super Kings in a cliffhanger of a final match on 1 June 2008. After the innings defeat of Australia in Adelaide in Ashes 2010, a website was launched by fans calling for his comeback. The website has also created a fund for the sole purpose of bringing Warne back into international cricket.
Personal life
Warne was born in Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria to parents Keith and Bridgette, and grew up in Black Rock, Victoria. Shane Warne went to Oakleigh South Primary School for 1 year as well as being Captain of Cricket at Mentone Grammar where he attended High School on a sporting scholarship. He has three children – Brooke, Summer and Jackson with his ex-wife Simone Callahan.
Since retirement, Warne has been doing "work for the Shane Warne Foundation... which assists seriously ill and underprivileged children." Since launching in 2004, the charity has distributed £400,000; Warne is organising a poker tournament and a breakfast and "by the end of our summer, we hope to have raised £1.5million."
Youth and early cricket career
Warne's first representative honours came when in 1983/84 season he represented University of Melbourne Cricket Club in the then Victorian Cricket Association under 16 Dowling Shield competition. He bowled a mixture of leg-spin and off-spin and was also a handy lower order batsman. The following season he joined the St Kilda Cricket Club near his home town of Black Rock. He started in the lower elevens and over a number of seasons progressed to the first eleven. He was later chosen to train at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide.
Warne joined English team Accrington Cricket Club in 1991. He enjoyed a good season with the ball, taking 73 wickets at 15.4 each, but scored only 330 runs at an average of 15.0. The committee at Accrington Cricket Club decided not to re-engage him for the 1992 Lancashire League season as he was seen not to be good enough.
First-class debut
Warne made his first-class cricket debut on 15 February 1991, taking 0/61 and 1/41 for Victoria against Western Australia at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. He was then selected for the Australia B team which toured Zimbabwe in September 1991. His best performance was 7/52 in a four-day match. Upon returning to Australia, Warne took 3/14 and 4/42 for Australia A against India in December 1991. The incumbent spinner in the Australian Test Team, Peter Taylor, had taken only one wicket in the first two tests, so Warne was brought into the team for the Third Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground a week later.
International career
Early international career
Warne had an undistinguished Test debut, taking 1/150 (Ravi Shastri caught by Dean Jones for 206) off 45 overs, and recorded figures of 1/228 in his first Test series; he took 0/78 in the Fourth Test in Adelaide and was dropped for the Fifth Test on the pace-friendly WACA Ground in Perth. His poor form continued in the first innings against Sri Lanka at Colombo, in which he recorded 0/107. However, a spell of 3/11 in the second innings precipitated the hosts' second innings collapse and contributed to a remarkable Australian win.
However, Warne's performances in the last two Tests in Sri Lanka were not to the satisfaction of the selectors, and he was dropped for the First Test against the West Indies in the 1992–93 Australian season. Greg Matthews played in Warne's place and despite Australia being in a strong position on the final day, was unable to dismiss the tourists on a turning surface. Warne was thus recalled for the Second Test in Melbourne, where he took 7/52 in a match-winning performance in the second innings.
Ban from cricket
In February 2003, just prior to the start of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, Warne was sent home after a drug test during a one-day series in Australia returned a positive result for a banned diuretic.
Warne initially claimed that he took only one of what he called a "fluid tablet" – the prescription drug Moduretic – in an attempt to improve his appearance.
In the end, the panel found Warne guilty of breaching the ACB's drug code, and imposed a one-year ban.It was further revealed, and confirmed by Warne in a subsequent television interview, that he had actually taken two of the pills. The substance he took is banned because it can be used to mask the presence of other drugs. The Judge in the case found both Shane Warne and his mother's testimony to be "unreliable".
At the time, Warne took the view that the ban imposed would lengthen his Test playing career. That Warne was allowed to play in charity matches while serving his one year ban was criticised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) although WADA, in turn, was criticised by Warne for interfering in the matter.
During his suspension, he considered working for the St Kilda Australian rules football club as an assistant coach, before the Australian Football League told the club that it would be inappropriate to have somebody suspended for a drug offence advising its players. He also received invitations to play in various celebrity "park cricket" teams, and the newly renamed Cricket Australia reversed its decision on whether Warne, as a contracted player, should be allowed to play in such matches. He also became a TV commentator for Channel 9 in Australia during this time.
Return to cricket
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| Warne returned to competitive cricket following his ban in February 2004. |
In March 2004, Warne became the second cricketer after Courtney Walsh of the West Indies to take 500 Test wickets. He broke the record for most career wickets in Test cricket on 15 October 2004 during the Second Test against India at Chennai, overtaking his great spin bowling rival, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka. On 11 August 2005 at Old Trafford, in the Third Ashes Test, he became the first bowler in history to take 600 Test wickets. In 2005, Warne also broke the record for the number of wickets in a calendar year, with 96 wickets. His ferocious competitiveness was a feature of the 2005 Ashes series, when he took 40 wickets at an average of 19.92 and scored 249 runs.
International retirement
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| Warne (right) bowling to Ian Bell at Brisbane Cricket Ground in 2006. |
Warne began his 2006/07 Ashes campaign with an indifferent Test in Brisbane and a poor first innings showing in Adelaide. However, his second innings heroics, including bowling Kevin Pietersen around the legs, triggered England's fifth-day collapse and Australia's historic victory. Warne again bowled well in the second innings in the third Test, and took the final wicket of Monty Panesar as Australia regained the Ashes.
On 21 December 2006 Warne announced his retirement, which came into effect after the fifth Ashes Test match at the SCG. He became the first cricketer to reach the 700-wicket milestone in his second last Test, on Boxing Day 2006. Warne said that it was his intention to "go out on top", adding that he might have retired after the 2005 Ashes series, had Australia won. Warne achieved his 700th test wicket at 3.18 pm on 26 December 2006 (AEST) by bowling English batsman Andrew Strauss out at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in what was almost certainly his final appearance at the ground. This was the first occasion that a player had taken 700 career wickets. The wicket was described as a "classic Warne dismissal" to which the crowd of 89,155 gave a standing ovation.
In the last match of the 2006 Ashes Series at the SCG, Sydney spectators bade him farewell in his very last Test match, just as they witnessed his Test debut on 2 January 1992. Thus, a career spanning exactly 15 years ended where it all began.
In this final Test, Warne ended England's first innings by trapping Monty Panesar lbw for a duck and his 1000th total international wicket. His final Test wicket was the wicket of English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, stumped by Adam Gilchrist near the end of Day 3.
In 2007, Cricket Australia and Sri Lanka Cricket decided to name the Australia- Sri Lanka Test cricket series, Warne-Muralidaran Trophy in honour of Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.
Indian Premier League
After his retirement from international cricket, Warne was signed as the captain for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2008, leading them to victory in the first season of the competition. Warne is to continue as captain of the Royals in the 2011 season.
Playing style and influence
After an inauspicious start to his Test career, Warne revolutionised cricket thinking with his mastery of leg spin, which many cricket followers had come to regard as a dying art due to its immense difficulty of execution. For all his on-pitch and off-pitch controversies, Warne's place in cricketing posterity has been assured by the fact that he has overturned the domination of cricket by fast bowling that had prevailed for two decades before his debut. Despite the presence of high quality spin bowlers such as the Indian spin quartet of the 1970s or Abdul Qadir on the Test scene, Australia's fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson had dominated cricket in the early 1970s. Furthermore, from 1976 until the early 1990s, the West Indies had lost only one (ill-tempered and controversial) Test series with a bowling attack almost exclusively comprising fast bowlers. In the early 1990s, with the West Indies on the wane, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram of Pakistan were assuming the mantle of the world's most feared bowling combination. It was in that context that Warne's tormenting of batsmen became so significant rather than his actual statistics. His humiliation of Mike Gatting and subsequent dominance, in particular, of English and South African batsmen, provided a welcome sight for cricket watchers weary of the relentless intimidation by West Indian bowlers of the 1980s and 1990s. His treatment of South African batsman Daryl Cullinan was such that Cullinan was said to have sought the help of a therapist to overcome Warne's psychological hold.
Warne combined the ability to turn the ball prodigiously, even on unhelpful pitches, with unerring accuracy and a variation of deliveries (notable among these being the flipper) In the latter stages of his career, variation was less evident, despite regular press conferences announcing a "new" delivery for each series he participated in. Gideon Haigh, the Australian journalist, said of Warne upon his retirement: "It was said of Augustus that he found Rome brick and left it marble: the same is true of Warne and spin bowling."
Where my ability to spin a cricket ball came from, I honestly don't know. I can only think that I was born with it. I have a skill as cricketer and fortunately cricket found me.
– Shane Warne
Many of his most spectacular performances have occurred in Ashes series against England In particular, the famous "Gatting Ball", otherwise known as the "Ball of the Century" which spun sharply and bowled a bemused Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes series. Conversely, he has struggled against India, particularly against Sachin Tendulkar: his bowling average against India is 47.18 runs per wicket, compared with his overall average of less than 26. In fairness to Warne, other foreign spinners have also struggled against India in recent years; Warne's contemporary off-spinner rival, Muttiah Muralitharan, for instance, has a much higher bowling average (39.58 as at 2009) in Tests played in India than his overall Test figures.
Warne is also noted for his exuberant (and sometimes effective) lower-order batting, once famously being dismissed for 99 with a reckless shot on what was later shown to be a no ball. In fact, of all Test cricketers Warne has scored the most Test runs without having scored a century, with two scores in the nineties being his best efforts (99 and 91). Warne is also third overall in the most international test ducks. In 2006 Warne and Glenn McGrath reportedly lost a bet of which bowler would be the first to get a Test century with fellow Australian bowler Jason Gillespie after Gillespie scored a record double-century as a nightwatchman against Bangladesh.
Controversies
Despite nearly universal recognition of Warne's talents, his reputation with fans and cricket authorities is mixed, owing to a succession of intemperate actions in both his professional and his private life.
Bookmakers
John the bookmaker controversy
"John" or "John the bookmaker" is the name given to an Indian bookmaker who in 1994–95 gave money to Australian cricketers Mark Waugh and Shane Warne, in return for pitch and weather information. However, the players claim to have refused to divulge more strategic material, such as team tactics and player selection policies. One of the most publicised of a series of betting controversies in cricket in the 1990s, the matter was initially covered-up by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), who decided that it was sufficient to privately fine the players. The ACB concluded that, since Waugh and Warne had previously accused Pakistani cricket captain Saleem Malik of attempting to bribe them to lose matches, their credibility as witnesses would be damaged if their own involvement with John was publicised. The ACB reported the matter to the International Cricket Council, and there the matter ended.
When the issue was uncovered by the media in late-1998, the two players were widely condemned by the press and public, as was the ACB for their cover-up. Waugh received a hostile reaction from the Australian public when he walked out to bat during a Test match immediately after the news broke. On the other hand, the sports community was generally supportive of the players. The ACB appointed Rob O'Regan QC to conduct an independent inquiry into the matter. O'Regan concluded that the fines were inadequate and wrote that a suspension for a "significant time" would have been a more appropriate penalty. He strongly condemned the players' behaviour and their failure as role models for young fans. O'Regan further added that players needed to be better informed about the dangers of gambling and unauthorised bookmakers.
Newspaper column
Warne was charged with bringing the game into disrepute in 1999 following his comments about the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga in a column in The Times, when he was quoted as saying "There is plenty of animosity between Arjuna and myself. I don't like him and I'm not in a club of one."After this incident, the Australian Cricket Board ruled that newspaper columns by players had to be cleared by the team management before going to print.
Outside cricket
Media
On 13 July 2005, Australia's Nine Network announced it would not renew Warne's commentating contract, worth around A$300,000 annually. Warne had previously been seen as a future member of the Nine cricket commentary team, and had done commentary work during his one-year ban from cricket in 2003. He later rejoined Nine in 2008, and was signed by Sky Sports in 2009.
Warne took over from Ally McCoist as a team captain on the BBC television sports quiz A Question of Sport in September 2007.
In 2010, the Nine Network commissioned a chat show hosted by Warne, entitled Warnie. The program debuted on 24 November 2010, with Warne interviewing James Packer. Celebrities interviewed on the programme included then captain of the Australian cricket team Ricky Ponting, and the singers Chris Martin and Susan Boyle. The program experienced spiralling audience figures and was axed before its final scheduled episode, although the network denied that it had been cancelled due to poor ratings.
Endorsements
In 2005, Shane Warne signed a lucrative multi-year sponsorship deal with Messages On Hold. The irony of Warne promoting On Hold phone messages after weathering the ignominy of several SMS/text messaging scandals was not lost on the spin bowler. Several media sources, and even Messages On Hold’s own promotional materials quote him as saying, “Trust me with this recommendation—I know a thing or two about spin."
Warne also does promotional work for hair-loss-recovery company Advanced Hair. This matter was investigated by the British Advertising Standards Authority in relation to an illegal celebrity endorsement of medical services. In response to the investigation Warne stated "There's only one thing that worries me, and that's hair loss."[citation needed] He also does an ad with commentator Mark Sheridan, which is also pending investigation. They both wear brown in this ad as a protest to the British Advertising Standards Authority.
Warne has also endorsed the Codemaster video games Shane Warne Cricket and Shane Warne Cricket '99. Outside Australia these were known as Brian Lara Cricket and Brian Lara Cricket '99.
For the 2007/08 Australian cricket series, Warne took over as Victoria Bitter spokesperson from David Boon in the Boonanza promotion. Warne had a talking figurine as part of the promotion, which continued from the "Talking Boony" doll.
In January 2008, Warne signed a two year agreement with 888 Poker (owned by 888 Holdings PLC, a public listed company in London) to represent them at poker events around the world including the Aussie Millions, World Series of Poker and the 888 UK Poker Open.
Marital infidelities
Warne's private life has been beset by scandals and subjected to scrutiny by British tabloid newspapers. He came under criticism for text messaging a woman whilst on tour in South Africa, accused of sending lewd and harassing messages. However, the woman who made the claims was subsequently charged with extortion in her own country.
In 2000, he had been stripped of the Australian vice-captaincy after bombarding a British nurse with erotic text messages. He was also involved in an altercation with some teenage boys who took a photo of him smoking; Warne had accepted a sponsorship of a nicotine patch company in return for quitting smoking.
Further allegations of Warne having extramarital affairs broke in 2005 as Australia began its tour of England in preparation for The Ashes. On 25 June 2005, Warne and his wife Simone Callahan announced that they had decided to separate.
On 7 May 2006, the News of the World tabloid newspaper published pictures of Warne standing in his underwear with a pair of 25-year-old models, as well as explicit text messages allegedly from Warne.
On 1 April 2007, Warne and his wife were reported to be getting back togeth. However, in September 2007, Simone returned to Australia from England after her husband had accidentally sent a text message meant for another woman to her phone.
Warne's history of high-profile marital infidelities inspired Australian singer-songwriter Kevin Bloody Wilson's 2003 music video entitled "The Shane Warne Song" as well as lines in Tim Minchin's "Some People Have It Worse Than Me" and "The JLA Song".
On 12 December 2010, following press reports and footage of him and English actress Liz Hurley kissing, Warne announced via his Twitter account that he and Simone had separated a couple of months ago, but only his close friends and family had been informed of this,. Although the relationship with Hurley at first seemed short-lived following the disclosure of Warne texting salacious messages to a married Melbourne businesswoman, the couple created a media frenzy when Ms Hurley later moved in for a short period to Warne's Brighton mansion.
Recognition
He was chosen as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1994.
In 2000, Warne was named by a 100-member panel of experts as the fourth of five Wisden Cricketers of the Century Warne received 27 votes, behind Sir Donald Bradman (100 votes), Sir Garfield Sobers (90 votes), and Sir Jack Hobbs (30 votes). Sir Viv Richards took the fifth place, with 25 votes. Warne was the only active cricketer to be placed in the top 10.
Warne is one of the four Australian cricketers to have been named in "Richie Benaud's Greatest XI" in 2004. (Don Bradman, Dennis Lillee and Adam Gilchrist are the others)
In 2005 he was named as winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality for his performance in the 2005 Ashes.
Warne appeared on 6 and 7 July episode of the popular Australian soap Neighbours on behalf of his charitable foundation.
In 2006 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Southampton Solent University for services to cricket.
He is a huge fan of the St Kilda Football Club and played in their 2nds side
Former Australian Test Cricket captain Kim Hughes described Warne as the "Donald Bradman of bowling" following the announcement of Warne's intention to retire.
He is one of four Australian cricketers to have his portrait hang in the Long Room at Lord's Cricket Ground, London; the ground is known as the "home of cricket". The others were Victor Trumper, Sir Donald Bradman and Keith Miller. He is also the only one to have it hanging while he was still playing.
A musical comedy was based on his life: Shane Warne: The Musical.
The Melbourne Cricket Club has decided to honour Warne, by inaugurating a statue of him outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It is expected that Warne's statue will be unveiled by the end of 2011.
Test wicket milestones
Milestone Batsman Country Method Venue Year
1 (First) Ravi Shastri India Caught DM Jones Sydney 1991/92
50 Nasser Hussain England Caught DC Boon Nottingham 1993
100 Brian McMillan South Africa LBW Adelaide 1993/94
150 Alec Stewart England Caught and Bowled Melbourne 1994/95
200 Chaminda Vaas Sri Lanka Caught IA Healy Perth 1995/96
250 Alec Stewart England Bowled Manchester 1997
300 Jacques Kallis South Africa Bowled Sydney 1997/98
350 Hrishikesh Kanitkar India LBW Melbourne 1999/2000
400 Alec Stewart England Caught AC Gilchrist The Oval 2001
450 Ashwell Prince South Africa Caught ME Waugh Durban 2002
500 Hashan Tillakaratne Sri Lanka Caught A Symonds Galle 2004
550 James Franklin New Zealand LBW Adelaide 2004/05
600 Marcus Trescothick England Caught AC Gilchrist Manchester 2005
650 Ashwell Prince South Africa LBW Perth 2005/06
700 Andrew Strauss England Bowled Melbourne 2006/07
708 (Last) Andrew Flintoff England Stumped AC Gilchrist Sydney 2006/07
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