Shane Warne

Undoubtedly the greatest leg spin bowler of all time.

Warne made his first-class cricket debut in 1990-91, taking 0/61 and 1/41 for Victoria against Western Australia. At that time Australia were searching for a leg spin bowler for their Test team, Warne was selected in the Australia B team which toured Zimbabwe in September 1991. His best performance was 7/52 in a four-day match. Back home, he took 3/14 and 4/42 for Australia A against the West Indies in December 1991, and was rushed into the team for the Third Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground a week later.

This was the start of an extraordinary international career that has revolutionised cricket thinking and the mastery of leg spin. Cricket had been dominated by fast bowling for two decades before his debut and it was in this context that Warne's tormenting of batsmen became so significant, rather than his actual statistics. Warne combines the ability to turn the ball prodigiously, even on unhelpful pitches, with unerring accuracy and a wide variation of deliveries.

Many of his most spectacular performances have occurred in Ashes series against England such as the famous "Gatting Ball" or "Ball of the Century" which spun sharply and bowled a bemused Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes series.

In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century and designated as one-day player of the year. The same year he joined Hampshire.

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. He retired from one day cricket in January 2003 but did appear for the ICC World XI for the Tsunami benefit match in 2005.

In March 2004, he became the second cricketer, after Courtney Walsh of the West Indies, 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 his great spin bowling rival, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka. On 11 August 2005 at Old Trafford, in the Third Ashes Test, he became the first bowler in history 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 competitiveness was a feature of the now legendary 2005 Ashes series. Warne took 40 wickets at an average of 19.92 in the series and scored 249. This amazing performance gave him the title of the BBC Sports personality of the year overseas.

Shane supports many charities and his own charity the Shane Warne Foundation aims to help disadvantaged children in Australia and around the World.

In February 2006 Mitre and Shane Warne announced a five year sponsorship deal which will see the Australian wearing Mitre shoes and apparel until 2010. Both parties will work to develop grass-roots cricket in the UK too with specific emphasis of improving the reach and quality of spin-bowling coaching.

Recognition

He 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.

In 2005 he was named as winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality for his performance in the 2005 Ashes.

In 2006 he was named Australian Test player of the Year.

Appeared on the 6th & 7th July episode of the popular Australian soap Neighbours.

In 2006 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Southampton Solent University for services to cricket.

Captained coached and bowled Rajastan Royals to victory in the inaurgral IPL Tournament in 2008.