LEGENDARY Australia cricketer Shane Warne, one of the greatest bowlers in history, has died at the age of 52.
Warne’s management released a statement on Friday saying he had died of a suspected heart attack in Koh Samui, Thailand.
The statement read: “Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived.
“The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course.”
Leg-spinner Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history with 708 wickets in 145 matches, behind only Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan’s tally of 800.
Warne took 1,001 international wickets in total, having also picked up 293 in 194 one-day internationals.
Warne will forever be remembered for producing the ‘Ball of the Century’ to dismiss Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993 and he took 195 wickets at 23.25, with 11 five-fors and four 10-wicket match hauls, against England.
Reflecting on that delivery, Gatting told Sky Sports News: “I knew that it was a leg break, but I didn’t expect it to spin that much. I’m not sure, he expected it to spin that much. He just said he tried to get it down the other end, as best he could. Well, it was a bit too good for me.
“The nice thing was, I suppose, as we always say, he said: ‘Thanks mate for that, it started my career off’. The only thing that I could say was that it was a bit too good for me, like many others who were to suffer the same fate.
“I don’t mind him having done that and got 700 odd Test wickets; I’d have been really upset if he’d have only got 37 Test wickets.
“He was just hugely inspirational. He just loved the game. He was so competitive; he had a great understanding of the game, and it was great just talking to him about the game.
“He had so many lovely ideas and different ideas, and his passion and enjoyment was always there. He always wanted to see people improve and the game improve”.
His impact on the game saw him named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Sir Viv Richards.
Since retiring from the game in 2013, he worked as a pundit for Sky Sportsand coached London Spirit in the inaugural edition of The Hundred in 2021.
Warne had tweeted earlier on Friday to pay tribute to Rod Marsh following the former Australia wicketkeeper’s passing from a heart attack at the age of 74.
Sky Sports
Comments are closed.