Shane Warne

Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022), nicknamed Warnie, was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007.

Widely considered to be one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire, the Melbourne Stars and Australia.

Warne also played for and coached the Rajasthan Royals, including captaining the team to victory in the inaugural season of the IPL.

Warne was born in Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, on 13 September 1969, the son of Brigitte and Keith Warne.

His mother was German.

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-19 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.

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.

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.

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 a member of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup.

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.

He retired from international cricket at the end of Australia's 2006–07 Ashes series victory over England.

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.

Warne died suddenly 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 as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his service to cricket.

Considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, 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.