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NEWS ICC Champions Trophy 2006>What cricket has gained from Shane Warne 06th Sept 2006 22.22 IST By Manish Kumar Aussie leg-spin wizard Shane Keith Warne blames cricket for his personal woes. Some may argue with that but cricket undoubtedly has been the gainer by Warne’s charismatic presence in the field. Despite all his off-field controversies like admitting to taking money from a man to provide pitch and weather reports from a man later discovered to be operating with bookmakers, his positive drug test just prior to the start of the 2003 Cricket World Cup and his marital infidelities, Warne is arguably the greatest leg-spinner in the history of cricket and undoubtedly one of the greatest leg-spinners ever.
Since October 2004, Warne has held the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, and in August 2005, he became the first bowler to take 600 Test wickets. Warne had an undistinguished debut in Test cricket – against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1992 – and was carted all over the park by Ravi Shastri (206) and Sachin Tendulkar (148). Warne recorded figures of 1/228 in his first Test series. His poor return continued in the first innings against Sri Lanka at Colombo in the next year, in which he recorded 0/107. However, a spell of 3/11 in the second innings contributed to a remarkable Australian win and arguably saved Warne’s Test career. Despite the inauspicious start to his Test career, Warne has since revolutionised cricket thinking with his mastery of leg spin, which many cricket fans had regarded as a dying art. For all his wickets and off-pitch (and on pitch) controversies, Warne's place in cricketing posterity was assured by the fact that cricket had been dominated by fast bowling for about two decades before his debut. Warne’s combined ability to turn the ball prodigiously, even on unhelpful pitches, with unerring accuracy and a wide variation of deliveries (notably including the flipper) provides a welcome sight for cricket watchers. Many of his most spectacular performances have occurred in Ashes series against England , whose players' inexperience against leg spin bowling made them particularly vulnerable. No one can forget Warne’s feats like the famous "Gatting Ball" or "Ball of the Century" which bounced outside leg stump and hit Mike Gatting’s off-stump in the 1993 Ashes series. Conversely, he has struggled against India: his bowling average against them is a poor 47.18, compared with less than 31 against every other country. Warne has been highly effective bowling in one-day cricket, something few other leg spin bowlers have managed. He also captained Australia on several occasions in one-day internationals, winning ten matches and losing only one. Warne had intended to retire from ODI cricket at the end of the 2003 World Cup, as it transpired, his last game for Australia was in January 2003 as he was banned for one year after he returned a positive result for a banned diuretic. However he did appear for the ICC World XI for the Tsunami benefit match in 2005. In March 2004, Warne became the second cricketer, after the West Indian Courtney Andrew Walsh , to take 500 Test wickets. He broke the record for most career wickets in Test cricket on October 15, 2004 during the second Test against India at Chennai, overtaking the Sri Lankan off-spin genius Mutiah Muralitharan . On August 11, 2005 at Old Trafford, in the Third Ashes Test, Warne became the first bowler in the history of cricket to take 600 Test wickets. In 2005, he also broke the record for the number of wickets in a calendar year, with 96 wickets. Warne's ferocious competitiveness was a feature of the 2005 Ashes series. Warne took 40 wickets at an average of 19.92 in the series and scored 249 runs. Warne 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 Vivian Richards took the fifth place, with 25 votes. Warne is the only Wisden Cricketer of the Century who has not been knighted and is the only Aussie other than Adam Gilchrist currently playing the game to have been named in "Richie Benaud's Greatest XI" in 2004. In December 2005 at Perth, Warne became the first bowler in the history of Test cricket to take 650 wickets when he dismissed South African Ashwell Prince, who was also Warne’s 450th Test victim in March 2002 at Durban. In 2006, Warne was named Australian Test player of the Year. Cricket will never be the same again when Warne will finally hang up his boots. Also View In-Depth Coverage: ICC Champions Trophy 2006 Team Page: Australia Team Page: India | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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