The King of Spin SHANE WARNE

Shane Keith Warne (born 13 September 1969) is an Australian former international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. He was named Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1994 Wisden Cricketers Almanack. He is the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World 1997 (Notional Winner). He was named Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2004 in 2005 Wisden Cricketers Almanack. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet and the only one still playing at the time. He is also a cricket commentator and a professional poker player. He officially retired from all formats in July 2013.

Warne played his first Test match in 1992, and took over 1000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals), second to this milestone after Sri Lankas Muttiah Muralitharan. Warnes 708 Test wickets was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, until it was also broken by Muralitharan on 3 December 2007. A useful lower-order batsman, Warne also scored over 3000 Test runs, and he holds the record for most Test runs without a century. His career was plagued by scandals off the field; these included a ban from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance, charges of bringing the game into disrepute by accepting money from bookmakers, and sexual indiscretions.

As well as the Australian National Cricket Team, he also played Australian domestic cricket for his home state of Victoria, and English domestic cricket for Hampshire. He was captain of Hampshire for three seasons, from 2005 to 2007.

He retired from international cricket in January 2007, at the end of Australias 5–0 Ashes series victory over England. Three other players integral to the Australian team at the time, Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer, also retired from Tests at the same time which led some, including the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, to declare it the "end of an era".

Following his retirement from international cricket, Warne played a full season at Hampshire in 2007. He had been scheduled to appear in the 2008 English cricket season, but in late March 2008 he announced his retirement from playing first-class cricket in order to be able to spend more time pursuing interests outside of cricket. In March 2008, Warne signed to play in the Indian Premier League for the Jaipur team, Rajasthan Royals in the first edition of the tournament, where he played the roles of both captain and coach. He led his team to victory against the Chennai Super Kings in a cliffhanger of a final match on 1 June 2008

Shane Warne was born to Keith and Bridgette Warne on 13 September 1969 in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, a suburb of outer Melbourne. He attended Hampton High School from Grades 7–9, after which he was offered a sports scholarship to attend Mentone Grammar. Warne spent his final three years of school at Mentone. His first representative honours came when in 1983/84 season he represented 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 also a handy lower order batsman. The following season he joined the St Kilda Cricket Club near his home suburb of Black Rock. He started in the lower elevens and over a number of seasons progressed to the first eleven. During the cricket offseason in 1987 Warne played five games of Australian rules football for the St Kilda Football Clubs under 19 team. In 1988 Warne once again played for the St Kilda Football Clubs under 19 team before being upgraded to the reserves team, one step below professional level. Following the 1988 Victorian Football League season Warne was delisted by St Kilda and began to focus solely on cricket. He was later chosen to train at the AIS Australian Cricket Academy in 1990 in Adelaide.

Warne joined English team Accrington Cricket Club in 1991. He enjoyed a good season with the ball, taking 73 wickets at 15.4 each, but scored only 330 runs at an average of 15. The committee at Accrington Cricket Club decided not to re-engage him for the 1992 Lancashire League season as he not seen to be good enough.

Warne made his first-class cricket debut on 15 February 1991, taking 0/61 and 1/41 for Victoria against Western Australia at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. He was then selected for the Australia B team which toured Zimbabwe in September 1991. His best performance was 7/52 in a four-day match. Upon returning to Australia, Warne took 3/14 and 4/42 for Australia A against India in December 1991. The incumbent spinner in the Australian Test team, Peter Taylor, had taken only one wicket in the first two tests, so Warne was brought into the team for the third Test against India at the Sydney Cricket 

Warne had an undistinguished Test debut when called into the Australian team in January 1992 for a Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He took 1/150 (Ravi Shastri caught by Dean Jones for 206) off 45 overs. He took 0/78 in the fourth Test in Adelaide, recording overall figures of 1/228 for the series, and was dropped for the fifth Test on the pace-friendly WACA Ground in Perth. His poor form continued in the first innings against Sri Lanka at Colombo, in which he recorded 0/107. However, a spell of 3/11 in the second innings precipitated the hosts second innings collapse and contributed to a remarkable Australian win.

However, Warnes performances in the last two Tests in Sri Lanka were not to the satisfaction of the selectors, and he was dropped for the First Test against the West Indies in the 1992–93 Australian season. Greg Matthews played in Warnes place and despite Australia being in a strong position on the final day, was unable to dismiss the tourists on a turning surface. Warne was thus recalled for the Second Test in Melbourne, where he took 7/52 in a match-winning performance in the second innings.

In 1993, Warne was selected for Australias Ashes tour of England. He was the leading wicket taker for the six-Test series, with 34. His first ball of the series was written into the history books as the "Ball of the Century", bowling the experienced English batsman Mike Gatting with a ball that turned from well outside leg stump to clip the off bail. He took 71 Test wickets in 1993, then a record for a spin bowler in a calendar year. New Zealand batsmen contributed significantly to his tally. He took 17 wickets in Australias tour of New Zealand early in the year, tying Danny Morrison as the top wicket-taker for the series with 17. When New Zealand toured Australia for three Tests in November and December, Warne took 18 more and was named player of the series.

Warne featured in South Africas tour of Australia in 1993–94 and Australias return tour in March 1994. In the second Test of South Africas tour, held at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Warne took ten wickets in a Test for the first time in his career. His 7/56 in the first innings and 5/72 in the second was not enough to secure victory for Australia; Warne was part of an Australian batting collapse on the final day of the Test that handed South Africa the win.

Australia sought to retain The Ashes when England toured for a five Test series in 1994–95. Warne took a career-best 8/71 in the second innings of the first Test at The Gabba, before going on to take 27 wickets in the five-Test series. In the Second Test at Warnes home ground, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, he took his first and only Test hat-trick, dismissing tail-enders Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm in successive balls. It was the first hat-trick by an Australian bowler in a Test against England since Hugh Trumbles at the same ground in 1904. However it was with the bat that Warne ultimately secured The Ashes for Australia. In the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he and fellow tail-ender Tim May survived the final 19 overs on the fifth day in fading light to secure a draw and a 2–0 series lead that meant Australia would retain The Ashes regardless of the result of the fourth and fifth Tests.Later in 1995, he toured the West Indies, taking 15 wickets over four Tests as Australia defeated the West Indies in a Test series for the first time in almost 20 years.

In the summer of 1995–96, Australia played home series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He took 11 wickets in the first Test against Pakistan but broke his toe in the second. Selectors included him in the squad for the third Test just days later to give him the chance to prove his fitness; he did so by taking four wickets in Pakistans first innings and another four in their second to be named the player of the series.

Warne was to be a key member of Australias squad for the 1996 World Cup, held in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Australia qualified for the final, with Warne having taken 12 wickets, including a man-of-the-match 4/36 in the semi-final against the West Indies. Ahead of the final against Sri Lanka, Australian captain Mark Taylor publicly declared that Warne was not "vital" to his team, emphasising that Warne alone could not win the World Cup. Warne conceded 58 runs for no wickets in the final; Australia lost the match to first-time champions Sri Lanka.

The West Indies toured Australia for a five-Test series in the summer of 1996–97. Warne took 22 wickets in the series, and a further 11 in Australias three-Test tour of South Africa early in 1997. In the northern summer, Warne returned to England with the Australian team to attempt to retain The Ashes. After struggling for form early in the tour, Warne took 24 wickets at an average of 24.04 as Australia won the six-Test series 3–2.

The following Australian summer (1997–98) saw a continued flow of wickets for Warne. He picked up 19 in New Zealands three-Test series in Australia, before taking 20 wickets in three Tests against South Africa. In the second of those three, he took five wickets in the first innings and six in the second, while becoming the second Australian after Dennis Lillee to take 300 Test wickets. At the beginning of the summer, the Australian media had criticised Warne for his weight; now, The Australian wrote that he was one of Australias three most "influential" cricketers (with Donald Bradman and Dennis Lillee). Journalist and former English cricketer Derek Pringle observed as Warne passed the 300 Test wicket mark at the age of 28: "we are in the presence of true greatness and not some pretender to the great figures in the games history."

Later in 1998, Warne was a member of Australias touring squad of India. Finding Indian food not to his liking, he had spaghetti and baked beans flown in from Australia. With Australias two top pace bowlers Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie missing the tour due to injury, Warne shouldered more of the bowling burden. He took 10 wickets, but conceding 54 runs each, going for 0/147 in Indias only innings of the second and series-winning Test in Calcutta. Warnes dismissal of Rahul Dravid in the first inning of the final test at Bangalore took him past Lance Gibbs tally of 309 wickets making him the most successful spinner in Test Cricket. Australia lost the series, breaking a run of nine Test series victories.

Warne did not play international cricket again until the fifth Test of the Ashes series in Australia in January 1999, suffering a shoulder injury. He missed Australias tour of Pakistan and the first four Ashes Tests. At the time, he was also at the centre of the John the bookmaker controversy. Warnes extended absence from the Australian team gave his understudy Stuart MacGill the opportunity to play in his place. MacGill responded by taking 15 wickets in three Tests against Pakistan—the most for any bowler in the series—and another series-high 27 wickets against England. Warne and MacGill bowled in tandem upon Warnes return to the team for the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where MacGill took 12 wickets and Warne two.

Warne began his 2006/07 Ashes campaign with an indifferent Test in Brisbane and a poor first innings showing in Adelaide. However, his second innings performance, including bowling Kevin Pietersen around the legs, triggered Englands fifth-day collapse and Australias victory. Warne again bowled well in the second innings in the third Test, and took the final wicket of Monty Panesar as Australia regained the Ashes.

On 21 December 2006 Warne announced his retirement, which came into effect after the fifth Ashes Test match at the SCG. He became the first cricketer to reach the 700-wicket milestone in his second last Test, on Boxing Day 2006. Warne said that it was his intention to "go out on top", adding that he might have retired after the 2005 Ashes series, had Australia won. Warne achieved his 700th test wicket at 3.18 pm on 26 December 2006 (AEST) by bowling English batsman Andrew Strauss out at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in what was almost certainly his final appearance at the ground. This was the first occasion that a player had taken 700 career wickets. The wicket was described as a "classic Warne dismissal" to which the crowd of 89,155 gave a standing ovation.

Warnes final Test was held at the same venue as his first, 15 years earlier: the Sydney Cricket Ground. Warne ended Englands first innings by trapping Monty Panesar lbw for a duck and his 1000th total international wicket. His final Test wicket was that of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, stumped by Adam Gilchrist.

After his retirement from international cricket, Warne was signed as the captain for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2008, fetching US$450,000 in the pre-season player auction. He led the Royals to victory in the first season of the competition.He continued as captain of the Royals for a further four seasons, the 2011 season being his last with the franchise.

Warne was signed as a player for the Melbourne Stars in Australias inaugural Big Bash League (BBL) in November 2011. The Stars qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament, and Warne took seven wickets in eight matches at an economy rate of 6.74 runs conceded per over.

In 2013 Warne was fined $4500 and banned for one match for using obscene language, making inappropriate physical contact with a player or official (Marlon Samuels) and showing serious dissent at an umpires decision during a BBL match.

In July 2013, he officially retired from all formats confirming that he wont be captaining the Melbourne Stars in BBL.