Shane Warne Biography:
Shane Warne is one of the best spinners that have ever been produced by the game of cricket. He is easily the best leg spinner to ever grace this game of cricket. The magic that he used to produce with his wrists was unmatchable and unplayable too.
Shane Warne Biography covers his entire journey.
Shane Warne, one of cricket’s all-time greats, has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 52 in Koh Samui, Thailand, while on holiday.
Warne, who was named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Century, claimed 708 Test wickets in a 15-year career for Australia between 1992 and 2007, and was also an ODI World Cup winner in 1999.
According to his manager Michael Cohen, he died of a suspected heart attack.
“Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived,” Cohen’s statement read. “The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course.”
According to Reuters, Thai Police said Warne and three other friends were staying in a private villa and one of them went to inquire about him after the former cricketer did not turn up for dinner.
“The friend did CPR on him and called an ambulance,” Chatchawin Nakmusik, an officer with the Bo Put police in Koh Samui, told Reuters by phone.
“An emergency response unit then arrived and did another CPR for 10-20 minutes. Then an ambulance from the Thai International Hospital arrived and took him there. They did CPR for five minutes, and then he died.”
The police did not know the cause of death but were not treating it as suspicious, Chatchawin said.
Shane Warne Family:
Shane Warne was born on 13th September 1969 in Victoria, Australia. His father Keith Warne and mother Bridgette Warne has two children, Shane Warne and his brother Jason Warne.
Shane Warne married to his former wife Simone Callahan in 1995 and has three children with her. He has 2 sons named- Jackson Warne and Summer Warne. He also has a daughter named Brooke Warne. Shane Warne got separated from his wife in 2005.
Key Points:
- Shane Warne was born on 13th September 1969 in Victoria.
- In 1995, Shane Warne married his former wife Simone Callahan.
- He has 2 sons named- Jackson Warne and Summer Warne.
- He also has a daughter named Brooke Warne.
Early days and Domestic career:
Shane Warne studied in Hampton High School during his early childhood. But, due to his talent in sports, he was offered the sports scholarship to study in Mentone Grammar, which was, a better school than Hampton in the aspect of sports.
Warne spent his final three years of school at Mentone. Shane Warne cricket journey started in 1983-84 season, he represented the 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 a handy lower-order batsman.
Warne not only played cricket but, was also interested in football. He continuously progressed in cricket as he was playing cricket for all the different cricket clubs of Australia but, in 1987 off-season he also played five games of Australian Rules Football for St. Kilda Under-19 football club.
Warne after some successful years in district cricket got to make his first-class debut for Victoria in 1991 against Western Australia. It was not the best start for him as he only managed to pick up 1 wicket in 2 innings of the match giving away more than 100 runs. Though, he was selected to play for the Australia B team which was supposed to tour Zimbabwe later in September 1991.
He also joined the English club- Accrington Cricket Club in 1991 where he enjoyed a good season with the ball as he picked up 73 wickets but, with the bat, he was only able to score 330 runs in the whole season. To Shane Warne’s disappointment, he was not selected to play for the club in the next season as he was not seen as good enough to play for the elite cricket club.
In the second match of the Zimbabwe tour of 1991, Warne recorded his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as he picked up 7/49 to lead Australia to a 9 wicket win. After returning to Australia, he played for the Australia A team and picked up 7 wickets in 2 innings.
The doors of International cricket opened for Shane Warne when, the then spinner, Peter Taylor had only picked up 1 wicket in 2 Test matches against India, when India toured Australia in 1991/92. Shane Warne was picked up in the playing XI of the Australian Cricket Team in the third Test match of the series against India.
Key Points:
- Shane Warne did his schooling from Hampton High School.
- He represented the University of Melbourne Cricket Club in the then Victorian Cricket Association under 16 Dowling Shield competitions.
- in 1987 off-season he also played five games of Australian Rules Football for St. Kilda Under-19 football club.
- Warne makes his first-class debut for Victoria in 1991 against Western Australia.
- In 1991, Warne recorded his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as he picked up 7/49.
Test Career:
Shane Warne Australia debut was made in an International Test cricket against India in January 1992. It was not the best debut for Warne as the then power hitter, Ravi Shastri smashed the 22-year old Warne all around the park.
Although Warne had the last laugh as he got Ravi Shastri out at deep covers, he had given away 150 runs and picked up only 1 wicket in the innings. In his second test, he failed to pick up any wicket in the match against India at Adelaide Oval.
He played his next Test match against Sri Lanka in August 1992. In the first innings of the match, he again underperformed but, in the second innings, Warne unleashed his full potential as he picked up 3 wickets and gave away just 11 runs.
After starting to get settled in Test match cricket, it did not take much time for him to get adapted to International cricket and the stature of the game that one needs to have to play for a team like Australia.
In only his fifth Test match, which was against West Indies, he picked up 7 wickets and gave away just 52 runs which turned out to be a match-winning performance as Australia won the match by a huge margin of 139 runs against the mighty West Indians. Shane Warne won his first Man of the Match as he picked up 8 wickets in the test.
As Warne started gaining confidence, he started becoming more and more threatening as he was single-handedly winning matches for Australia. But, now, he had to face his biggest test as he was selected to play the Ashes against England. It was an away series for Australia, where Warne had been given the responsibility to perform well on green tops of England.
Shane Warne performed exceedingly well in the Ashes as he picked up 34 wickets in 6 Test matches where wickets were not spinner friendly. He also picked up a five-wicket haul in the fifth Test match and gave away only 82 runs. But, the best moment of the series came for him in the first Test match.
Shane Warne came into bowl his first over as Mike Gatting was taking strike. The first ball pitched outside leg stump and took the bails off the off-stump. Mike Gatting did not even know how he got out. At that time, people considered that ball as the “ball of the century”.
It was an unbelievable tour for Warne and Australia as they won the Ashes series(4-1). Shane Warne had now become an emerging star of Australian cricket. His unpredictable spin and his line and length were his biggest weapon to predate opposition batsmen. In 1993, Shane Warne took 73 wickets, which was a record for a spinner at that time.
Another big moment of Shane Warne’s career came in the South Africa tour of 1993/94. In the Second Test, he picked up 10 wickets in a Test match for the first time in his career. Out of the twenty South African wickets that fell, 12 of them were taken by Shane Warne, this was the most important phase in Shane Warne Biography.
Shane Warne’s career graph was always booming after a dull start to his career. In 1994/95 Ashes series, he took his first and only hat trick in Test match cricket as he dismissed all three tail-enders at his home ground MCG. In the first Test match of the series, he gave his career-best performance as he picked up 8 wickets and gave away just 71 runs, and with his brilliant performance, Shane Wane Ashes dream came true.
Shane Warne took 27 wickets in the 5-match series. Interestingly, Shane Warne ultimately won the series for Australia with the bat as he and his teammate Tim May survived 19 over’s in the final day of the Third Test match where Australia was leading 2-0 after winning the first two Test matches.
In 1995, Warne took 15 wickets in 4 Test matches against West Indies as Australia won the Test series against West Indies for the first time in close to 20 years.
Every National team player has a dream of becoming the best player for their respective countries but, only a few off them can become a country legend because what differs is the passion towards the sport and the most important aspect in any sport- Consistency.
Shane Warne had every bit of talent, passion, hard work, and most importantly consistency to become a legend of the game. He was continuously picking up wickets for Australia and winning them matches.
In 1998, another milestone was constructed by Warne as he reached to 300 wicket mark in merely 63 Test matches. His 300th wicket was the legendary South African Jacques Kallis. He picked up 11 wickets in his 63rd Test match.
Lance Gibbs was the most successful spinner in the history of Test cricket as he picked up 309 wickets. Shane Warne went past that mark in only his next Test series against India where he picked up the wicket of Rahul Dravid to become the most successful spinner in the history of Test cricket (Later, broken by Muttiah Muralitharan).
Unfortunately, every sportsman has to go through a phase of injury where he needs to stay away from the sport. Same thing happened to Warne after the India tour as he was diagnosed with a shoulder injury and stayed away from cricket for almost a year. He returned to the Australian Cricket Team in the fifth Test Match of the Ashes series and took two wickets.
After the retirement of Australian Captain Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh was given the captaincy and Shane Warne was promoted as the vice-captain of Australian Cricket Team. Though, he was dropped from the remaining West Indies tour due to the pressure from Australian media as he had only picked up 2 wickets in 3 Test matches of the same series.
Shane Warne’s revival began after a World Cup winning performances in the 1999 World Cup as he was retained as the vice-captain of the team. Following his comeback, he also performed well with the bat as he scored two half centuries against Sri Lanka and India respectively. Warne’s all round performance in both bilateral series led to consecutive series win for Australia.
Later, in 2000, he was diagnosed with a finger injury, due to which he missed the tours of Australian summer. His comeback into the team, in 2001, was a difficult one as he picked up only 10 wickets against India in 3 Test matches at an average of 50.50.
In the Ashes, he took 31 wickets in 5 Test matches which Australia won 4-1. Shane Warne also registered his 400th wicket in the same series as he picked up the wicket of Alec Stewart.
Shane Warne again started consecutively delivering match winning performances irrespective of the oppositions. But, the biggest downfall came of Warne’s career arrived a day before the start of 2003 World Cup. He was sent for a drug test which came out positive and he was banned from playing International cricket for a year.
Warne’s return to International cricket was a sweet one. In February, 2004, he played his comeback Test series against Sri Lanka as he took 5 wickets in the each innings of the first two Test matches. After the first test, he became only the second player to reach the hallmark of 500 Test wickets after Courtney Walsh.
Later, in a Test series against India, after an improved performance, he broke the record of most career wickets in Test history at the time when his arch rival, Muttiah Muralitharan was injured. He broke the record by taking the wicket of Irfan Pathan as he was caught by Matthew Hayden at slip.
2005 Ashes series also became a record breaking one for Warne as he became the first ever bowler to reach 600 career wickets in Test match cricket. But, the highlight of 2005 Ashes was not this mind boggling record but, the ball which Shane Warne bowled to Andrew Strauss in the Second Test match of the series.
Shane Warne pitched the ball outside off-stump and the ball spun magically to break the leg-stump of Andrew Strauss. Andrew Strauss was bamboozled and knew that he has become a part of history as this ball will be remembered for decades.
In 2006/07 Ashes series, which turned out to be the last one for Shane Warne, he reached the hallmark of 700 wickets, to become the first ever bowler to do so in Test match cricket. Andrew Strauss was his 700th wicket to which the crowd of MCG reacted by giving a standing ovation to the Australian legend.
Shane Warne last match he played at Sydney Cricket Ground, where, he had also played his first match. His final wicket was that of Andrew Flintoff who was stumped by Adam Gilchrist. Shane Warne left the cricket field after playing 145 Tests and picking up 708 wickets including 37 five-wicket hauls and scoring 3154 runs.
Key Points:
- In 1992, Shane Warne made his test debut against India.
- Only in his fifth test match, Warne has picked up seven wickets against West Indies for just 52 runs.
- In his first Ashes, Shane Warne picked up 34 wickets for his team and also one five-wicket haul.
- The off-spin against Mike Gatting was tagged as the “ball of the century”.
- In 1993, Shane Warne took 73 wickets, which was a record for a spinner at that time.
- In 1993, he picked up 10 wickets in a Test match for the first time in his career.
- In 1994/95 Warne took his first hat trick in the test.
- Shane Warne reached to 300 test wickets in just 63 matches.
- In 2005, Shane Warne becomes the first bowler to reached 600 wickets in test format.
- In the 2006-07 series, he has reached the 700 wickets haul.
One Day cricket:
Australian Cricketer Shane Warne made his One Day debut nearly a year after his Test debut. He made his debut against New Zealand in 1993. It turned out to be a decent match for him as he picked up 2 wickets and gave away 40 runs in his quota of 10 overs. In only his Third One Day International he picked up 4 wickets giving away just 25 runs against New Zealand.
He became an instant star in One Day cricket too. He was continuously picking up wickets and giving away nothing runs. It took Warne only 69 matches to reach the 100 wicket mark in One Day cricket.
Although he completed the 100 wicket mark, the best of Shane Warne was still to come. Shane Warne was part of the Australian team in the 1996 World Cup which was his first one.
Australia being a strong team had reached the Semi-Finals and had to face the two-time champions-West Indies. Shane Warne team Australia batted first and put forward a meager target of 208 runs for the West Indian batting line up. The match seemed to bend in favor of West Indies after the first innings but, Shane Warne had different intentions altogether.
He gave one of his best performances as he picked up 4 wickets and gave away just 36 runs as Australia won the match by 5 runs in a nail-biting finish. Shane Warne was adjudged Man of the Match for his match-winning performance.
After his unmatchable performance, Shane Warne was considered as the key for Australia to become World Champions for the second time. But, Warne (0/58) and actually the whole Australian team failed to deliver against Sri Lanka as Arvinda De Silva took away the match from Australia scoring a brilliant century in the World Cup Finals.
His career-best performance came against West Indies in the same year as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in One Day cricket. Surprisingly, it was his only five-wicket haul in One Day cricket.
He continued to impress in One Day cricket. He was the key member of the winning team of Australia in the 1999 World Cup. His contribution with the ball in the World Cup was a crucial one for Australia to lift the cup. He played his last One Day match against Asia XI in January 2005 where he picked up 2 wickets and gave away 27 runs.
Although Shane Warne was a legendary bowler, he did not get the same respect in One Day cricket as he did in Test match cricket. But, that seemed completely unfair as in his 196 matches long One Day career he picked up 293 wickets at a good average of 25.74.
Key Points:
- In 1993, Shane Warne made his One day debut for Australia against New Zealand.
- In just 69 matches, Shane Warne picked up 100 wickets mark for the team.
- Shane Warne against West Indies picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in ODI cricket.
- In his one day Career, he has picked up a total of 293 wickets.
World Cup cricket:
Shane Warne has represented Australia in two World Cups- 1996 and 1999. His World Cup debut was against Kenya where he took only one wicket. His first good World Cup performance came against Zimbabwe where he took 4 wickets and gave away just 34 runs.
But, Shane Warne delivered his best performance against West Indies in the Semi-Finals of the World Cup where he picked up 4 wickets as Australia entered the Finals by 5 runs. He was not able to deliver the same performance in the Finals as Sri Lanka won the World Cup.
Warne’s displays for Australia at the 1999 World Cup in England were simply breathtaking. It was a good World Cup for Warne before the Semi-Finals as he had picked up 12 wickets in 8 matches but, the World Cup turned extraordinary for him as he performed exceedingly well in the Semi-Finals and Finals.
Australia faced South Africa in the Semi-Finals and Steve Waugh’s men scored only 213 runs and the match seemed to be slipping out of hands as the Proteas were off to a good start.
But, Shane Warne entered to bowl in the thirteenth over and ripped apart the South African batting line up as he picked up 4 wickets and gave away just 29 runs in his quota of 10 overs.
South Africa managed to tie the match in an embarrassing final over the scenario and Australia entered the Finals as they were above South Africa in the points table.
Australia played Pakistan in the World Cup Final and Pakistan was batting first. Shane Warne came into the attack and again repeated his stunning performance and picked up 4 wickets as Pakistan was bowled out for 132 runs which were chased by Australia in merely 20 overs to become the World Champions.
Unfortunately, this was the last World Cup match of Shane Warne as he was not the part of Australian Squad in 2003 World Cup due to testing positive for a drug test.
Shane Warne has played a total of 17 matches in World Cup cricket where he has picked up 32 wickets.
Key Points:
- Warner has played two world cups with the Australian team (1996-1999).
- In his first world cup semi-finals, he has picked up 4 wickets for the Australian team.
- Shane Warne has played a total of 17 world cups for his team and picked up 32 wickets.
IPL cricket:
Shane Warne Rajasthan Royals journey begins from the commencement of the IPL the first season of the Indian Premier League. Shane Warne played for Rajasthan Royals till 2011 after which he completely retired from cricket.
The first season of IPL turned out to be the best one for Warne. Shane Warne was chosen as the captain of the Rajasthan Royals. It was a brilliant season for Shane Warne as he picked up 18 wickets and also led his team to win the IPL against Chennai Super Kings in the Finals. Rajasthan Royals was not able to repeat the performance again in IPL cricket.
Shane Warne Biography elucidates he has played a total of 55 matches in IPL and picked up 57 wickets with best figures of 4/21 against Deccan Chargers in the 2010 IPL season.
Key Points:
- Shane Warne played three IPL seasons with Rajasthan Royals.
- Shane Warne won the first IPL trophy with his team.
- In the first IPL edition he plucked 18 wickets in the season.
- Shane Warne has played total 55 matches and picked up 57 wickets.
Shane Warne records, interesting facts, etc:
- Controversies and Shane Warne were simply inseparable. When Warne was playing for Hampshire in 2000, reports emerged that he had sent lewd text messages to an English nurse.
- When he played his first Test match, against India at Sydney, Warne weighed as heavy as 97 kilos.
- On New Zealand tour in 2000, he became Australia’s highest-ever wicket-taker in Tests, eclipsing his hero, Dennis Lillee’s benchmark of 355.
- His nicknames are “Warnie”, “Hollywood” or “Baron of Baked Beans”, depending upon the occasion.
- In 1998 Warne faced controversy when it was revealed that he and fellow Australian cricketer Mark Waugh had taken bribes from an Indian bookmaker four years earlier. The pair claimed they gave only pitch information and weather forecasts. The two were secretly fined by the Australian Cricket Board soon after the incident came to light.
- In February 2003 Warne encountered further controversy when he was sent home from the World Cup in South Africa after a drug test revealed the presence of a banned diuretic; he subsequently received a 12-month ban.
- In the 2005 Ashes, Warne ended with 40 wickets at 19.92 apiece and scored 249 runs at 27.66. It was perhaps the best of all his Ashes campaigns
- He was named Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2004 in 2005 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
- Ball of the century- The first ball bowled by Warne in Ashes cricket was termed as the ball of the century as it spun almost 90 degrees to dismiss Mike Gatting
- In early 2013, Warne was fined $4500 and banned for a match for using obscene language, making inappropriate physical contact with Marlon Samuels and showing serious dissent at an umpire’s decision during a Big Bash League match.
- Warne had one Achilles Heel, and that was Sachin Tendulkar, for whom he once famously claimed that he had nightmares of Tendulkar dancing down the wicket and hitting him for six. His average against India was 47, not impressive by any standards.
- Warne was a handy batsman lower down the order. He holds the record for most Test runs scored without making a century. He was also a fine slip fielder to boot, pouching 125 catches.
- He was the first-ever bowler to pick up 600 and 700 wickets in Test match cricket.
- When he retired he held the record of highest wicket-taker in Test match cricket which was later broken by Muttiah Muralitharan as he went onto pick 800 wickets in Test match cricket playing 12 lesser Test matches than Warne
- Shane Warne was involved with the beautiful Elizabeth Hurley but, then they broke up. He then got married to Simone Callahan in1995 and got divorced in 2005
- In honor of 2 legendary spinners, in 2007, it was decided to name the Australia-Sri Lanka bilateral series as Warne-Muralitharan Trophy.
One of the famous quotes of Warne was: “Part of the art of bowling spin is to make the batsman think something special is happening when it is not.” His mystery deliveries, always discovered before Ashes series, were often figments of his imagination which preyed on the batsmen’s minds.
Shane Warne is undoubtedly the best Australian bowler to ever play cricket and his contributions to the game will always be remembered.
