shane warne

At first there were nerves and chubbiness. Then came wild soaring legbreaks, followed by fame and flippers. For a long while there were women, then a bookmaker, then diet pills, then more women - and headlines, always headlines. Now he has come out the other end, his bluff and bluster and mischief and innocence somehow intact. The man who in 2000 was rated among the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century was, in 2005, bowling better than ever. When Warne likened his life to a soap opera he was selling himself short. His story is part fairytale, part pantomime, part hospital drama, part adult's-only romp, part glittering awards ceremony. He has taken a Test hat-trick, won the Man-of-the-Match prize in a World Cup final and been the subject of seven books. He was the first cricketer to reach 650 Test wickets. He has swatted more runs than any other Test player without making a hundred, and is probably the wiliest captain Australia never had. His ball that gazoodled Mike Gatting in 1993, bouncing outside leg stump and cuffing off, is unanimously esteemed the most famous in history. He revived legspin, thought to be extinct, and is now pre-eminent in a game so transformed that we sometimes wonder where the next champion fast bowlers will come from.

For all that, Warne's greatest feats are perhaps those of the last couple of years. Returning from a 12-month hiatus for swallowing forbidden diuretics, he swept aside 26 Sri Lankan batsmen in three Tests, and the following year scalped a world record 96 victims - a stunning 24 more than in his show-stopping 1993 - and still missed out on the Allan Border Medal. Forty of those were Englishmen in what sometimes appeared to be a lone stand in a thrilling Ashes series. Nowadays he is helped by his stockpile of straight balls: a zooter, slider, toppie and back-spinner, one that drifts in, one that slopes out, and another that doesn't budge. Yet he seldom gets his wrong'un right and rarely lands his flipper. More than ever he relies on his two oldest friends: excruciating accuracy and an exquisite legbreak. Except that he now controls the degree of spin - and mixes it - at will. Like the great classical painters, he has stumbled upon the art of simplicity. His bowling has never been simpler, nor more effective, nor lovelier to look at.

Maybe, as with Posh Spice or Kylie Minogue, Warne is more famous than he is loved. Maybe we don't fully appreciate his genius; maybe, like Bradman's, it will become ever more apparent with the passing of decades. One thing's for sure, though. We'll weep when he's gone.
Christian Ryan May 2006

a luv watchin spin bowlas especially warne 2 c him rip the ball he iz partially why a wanna bowl legspin

its quality watchin spin i love watchin monty n warna i only started bowlin leg spin cos warna is so gd at it

well am not bowlin leg any more but a still luv watchin it

hes a quality bowler like why wasnt he born english lol

ana the aussies r reet bastards lyk

if england had a bowla like warna or murali england would be right up there with the aussies we have monty like who looks like bein a great bowler as much as i like monty and fink he iz great so far in his short international career he isnt in the same league as warne and murali

he still haz the chance 2 shine if fletcher actually plays him the bellend

ana he could be a great bowla like n on a 1st day pitch he took 5

exactly they wer oot ov there minds playin gilo

ana n since this topic is aboot warne av got 2 say again that i fink hes the greatest bowler the world of cricket has ever seen

ana(as we've both sed aboot 1,000,000 tyms b4 lol)