Adios Warnie: Cricket world in shock with sudden death of Spin King

Australia cricket great Shane Warne, widely regarded as one of the greatest Test players of all time, died on Friday of a suspected heart attack aged 52.

According to Warne’s management company, the retired leg-spinner was found lying in Koh Samui, Thailand.

“It is with great sadness we advise that Shane Keith Warne passed away of a suspected heart attack in Koh Samui, Thailand today, Friday 4 March,” the statement had read.

“Shane was found unresponsive in his Villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived,” it added.

The family had requested privacy until further details are received.

“The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course.”

The announcement came just hours after the death was announced of fellow Australian great Rod Marsh, one of cricket’s outstanding wicketkeepers.

Warne was credited with reviving the art of leg-spin and during a brilliant 15-year career he took 708 Test wickets — a tally surpassed only by Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 800.

Named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, alongside Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers, Jack Hobbs and Viv Richards, Warne’s impact was enormous.

Warne, who became as well known for a colourful life away from cricket as he was for his exploits on the field, also helped Australia win the 1999 limited-over World Cup and took 293 wickets in 194 one-day internationals.

But on the eve of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, he failed a drugs test after taking diuretics in a bid to lose weight and was sent home before Australian cricket authorities banned him for a year.

In addition to his international exploits, Warne also enjoyed a successful career with his Australian state side Victoria and captained English county Hampshire.

He starred in the Twenty20 Indian Premier League for Rajasthan Royals and in the T20 Big Bash League Melbourne Stars.

Glorious career

Warne made his international debut in a Test match against India in Sydney on January 2, where he took one wicket for 150.

Meanwhile, he made his ODI debut against New Zealand in Wellington on March 24. The young leggie picked two wickets for 40 runs in his first outing in the limited over cricket.

Warne went on to become the second most successful bowler of all time, just behind Muralitharan. The leggie played 145 Tests, where he picked as many as 708 wickets at an average of 25.41. His wickets tally included 37 five-wicket hauls.

Moreover, though his numbers do not reflect his brilliance in the ODI cricket, he was instrumental in making Australia World Champions in 1999.

He played 194 ODIs, where he took 293 scalps at an economy rate of 4.25.

Here are the highs and lows of the legendary cricketer.

— January 1992: Takes meagre 1-150 on his Test debut against India in Sydney

— December 29, 1994: Claims Test hat-trick against England at the MCG

— December 1998: Fined along with team-mate Mark Waugh for providing information to an Indian bookmaker during Australia’s 1994 tour of Sri Lanka

— June 20, 1999: Named World Cup final’s man of the match as Australia beat Pakistan

— April 2000: Voted one of Wisden magazine’s five “Cricketers of the Century” along with Donald Bradman, Garry Sobers, Jack Hobbs and Viv Richards

— August 2000: Stripped of Australian vice-captaincy after bombarding an English nurse with lewd text messages. Dubbed “Shame Warne” by the British press

— February 2003: Sent home from World Cup in South Africa and banned for a year after testing positive for a proscribed diuretic

— June 2005: Announces divorce from wife Simone Callahan, mother of his three children, after allegations of extra-marital affairs

— July-September 2005: Shrugs off marital problems to take 40 wickets in Australia’s losing Ashes campaign. Ends that year with 96 Test wickets, a world record that still stands

— December 26, 2006: Becomes first bowler to reach 700 Test wickets, in front of his home crowd at the MCG

— January 5, 2007: Retires from Test cricket with 708 wickets in 145 matches

— September 2007: Simone breaks off a reconciliation after Warne accidentally sent her a text message meant for another woman

— June 1, 2008: Captains Rajasthan Royals to the inaugural Indian Premier League Twenty20 title

— December 10, 2011: Makes headlines over his alleged relationship with British actress Liz Hurley. The pair were engaged but split in 2013

— May 18, 2011: Fined $50,000 over a public row with a senior Indian cricket official

— May 20, 2011: Plays final IPL game for Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai Indians

— July 19, 2013: Inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame at Lord’s

— July 22, 2013: Announces retirement from professional cricket after two seasons with Melbourne Stars in Australia’s Big Bash League

Warne’s fame

Warne mixed legendary cricket deeds with lurid headlines away from the pitch in a career as bewitching as his famed wrong ‘un.

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.

Vainglorious 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 — in the eyes of many, he is second only to cricket’s immortal Don Bradman.

Yet his achievements are tempered for some by his penchant for a zesty private life.

But Warne’s 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 and delivered the most famous ball in the sport’s history.

‘Ball of the century’

Warne posted inauspicious figures of 1-150 in his 1992 Test debut but knuckled down under spin guru Terry Jenner. Eighteen months later, Warne riveted the cricketing world with the “ball of the century” against England.

Warne’s first leg-break delivery in an Ashes Test turned viciously to bamboozle England’s Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993 that heralded the arrival of a cricketing superstar.

He was a master of mind games, targeting batters ahead of a series and warning he was working on a new mystery ball to bowl out his “bunnies” in the opposition line-up.

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 which saw him long touted as Australian Test skipper.

But even Warne himself once described his life as a soap opera, such was the litany of off-field controversies.

“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.

In 1998 it emerged that Warne and Australian team-mate Mark Waugh had been fined three years earlier for supplying information to an Indian bookmaker.

Warne was stripped of the Australian team vice-captaincy in 2000 after it emerged he had bombarded an English nurse with lewd text messages after meeting her in a nightclub.

A series of infidelities culminated in his very public break-up from his wife of 10 years, Simone, with whom he had three children.

Success despite scandals

And yet 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.

He also missed the 2003 World Cup in South Africa after he tested positive on tournament-eve for a banned diuretic — a weight-loss pill sometimes used to mask steroids — in a drug scandal that saw him banned for a year.

Warne returned to Test cricket in March 2004 but never again played international one-day matches, instead preferring to concentrate on the longer form of the game.

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. He played his last IPL season in 2011.