The Australian Associated Press compiles eight great moments from Shane Warne’s career, which ended Friday at 52 years old.
COLOMBO COMEBACK 1992
The miracle at Colombo was the first to truly announce Warne on the international stage, before the Mike Gatting “Ball of the Century”. Sri Lanka, which was on 181 to win, was at 127-2 when Australia’s spinners arrived. To win the match for Australia, Greg Matthews scored 4-37 runs and Warne got 3-0 runs in his 13 last balls. Warne’s career record was 1-335 before that spell. Warne didn’t look back.
WEST INDIES MAYHEM, 1992-93
This was the moment that most cricket fans saw the potential. Warne, who had missed the first test, took 7-52 in the second match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This was to help Australia beat the West Indies. Warne won the second match at his MCG home ground. He would eventually win 56 tests.
1993 GATTING BALL
Warne was the ultimate entertainer and could not have written it better. Warne’s first delivery in an England test match was a drifting ball that Warne hit across Mike Gatting’s right-hand. He had the ball dip, pitch outside the leg, spin enough for the bat to beat it and cut the top of his off-stump. Gatting’s confused expression said it all.
THE HAT-TRICK 1994-95
Warne reclaimed his famed hat-trick at MCG one month after he destroyed England with figures of 8-71 at the Gabba in Brisbane. He removed Phil DeFreitas and Darren Gough with three consecutive deliveries. Warne ended the series with 27 wickets.
1999 WORLD CUP HEROICS
Warne was back in action three years after he helped to engineer an Australian comeback that saw them reach the 1996 final. After South Africa had taken control at 48-0, Warne took 3-3 in his three first semifinal matches. He was chasing 214 and came back late to win the famous tie with 4-29. The man-of the-match was then him against Pakistan, where he took 4-33 to lead Australia to a narrow victory.
PAKISTAN, 2002
This is a great example of Warne’s dominance. Warne was the winner of 27 wickets in one of the most competitive series in history. His average score of 12.66 was an impressive 12.66. He took nearly half the wickets in the series, and Australia won the test in Sharjah in two days.
ONE-MAN BAND, 2005
Australia’s Ashes series defeat should have been devastating for Warne, but Glenn McGrath was out injured and the veteran legspinner really took charge of the bowling attack. For the series, he took 40 wickets at 19.92, which was the highest number of wickets by an Australian player in a five-match Ashes series.
700TH WICKET, 2006-07
Warne arranged the perfect ending, announcing that he would be retiring at the end of summer with Australia 3-0 up in Ashes and himself on 699 wickets before the MCG Boxing Day Test. Warne bowled Andrew Strauss, helping Australia complete the second 5-0 Ashes sweep. In his Sydney Cricket Ground farewell, he also reached 1,000 international wickets in every form of the game.
