***Official**** Shane Warne Tribute thread

[silentstriker]

I've been fairly lucky to see the following people in my life. All of them are fantastic.

• Ambrose
• Walsh
• Waqar
• Wasim
• Sachin
• Warne
• Lara
• McGrath
• Gilchrist
• Murali

Unfortunately, I missed the primes of Wasim, Waqar, Ambrose and Walsh.

 

[Legga]

A great bowler.
A great cricketer.
A great Australian.
A great Victorian.

 

[silentstriker]

Tim De Isle echoes my own thoughts:

We were expecting two retirements today, and we got them – but only one was expected. The role earmarked for Glenn McGrath was taken by Steve Harmison, retiring from one-day internationals. More of that in a moment. The big story, even though it was widely leaked, is still the retirement from Tests of Shane Warne.

For cricket, it means the end of one of the very greatest careers. Warne has been not just the most prolific bowler of all, but the foremost entertainer of the modern age. He took the neglected, marginal, difficult art of leg-spin, placed it centre stage, and made it look easy. His prodigious spin was just one of several facets of his game that have been phenomenal: his control, his stamina, his sense of drama, his bowling intelligence. He has made the game more interesting.

You could argue forever about whether he is the greatest bowler of all. He may not even be the greatest of his era – you can make a case for Murali, if you take the view, as most umpires and players do, that his action is legitimate. You can make a case for McGrath, who, unlike Warne, was able to maintain his best form wherever he went, including India.

Of the bowlers I’ve seen from further back, Malcolm Marshall was probably just ahead of all the current crop in his sensational ability to combine menace with guile, and Imran Khan was a complete cricketer, a great fast bowler who was also a fine batsman and captain. But Warne has definitely, in my book, been the greatest of all Ashes bowlers. Like Ian Botham, he is a personality player who felt personally about the romance and history of the Ashes. And thus became a major part of that history.

For Warne himself, it means a new life, probably involving more time with the kids and a microphone in his hand. He has made some bad calls in his private life, but this one, the biggest decision a cricketer has to face, he seems to have got spot-on. His powers had finally begun to fade, but the fact that he has still managed three four-fors in yet another Ashes victory suggests he may have one or two last hurrahs up his sleeve – if, unlike Bradman in 1948, he can keep a tear out of his eye. The 700th wicket will surely come fast, hastened by the cheers of a packed MCG. With two Tests to go, he could even gobble up the 14 he needs for 200 in the Ashes.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Not much I can say that can't be said already. Goodbye, Shane, thanks for the memories.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I have an immense amount of respect for him as a bowler, but not as a man I'm afraid.

 

[PY]

Always thought he was a bit of a fool to be honest, but you can't help but be overwhelmed by the sheer weight of his achievements and what he has brought to cricket.

Through this, I've grown to respect and wonder at some of the things he's managed to do (good and bad) and cricket will sorely miss his presence on the field, if not off it. I'm very glad that he'll be remembered for cricket rather than his occasional stupidity as that wouldn't have done him justice.

Hats off Mr Warne, not bad effort ol' chap.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Always thought he was a bit of a fool to be honest, but you can't help but be overwhelmed by the sheer weight of his achievements and what he has brought to cricket.

Through this, I've grown to respect and wonder at some of the things he's managed to do (good and bad) and cricket will sorely miss his presence on the field, if not off it. I'm very glad that he'll be remembered for cricket rather than his occasional stupidity as that wouldn't have done him justice.

Hats off Mr Warne, not bad effort ol' chap.

and other things......

 

[GIMH]

What can I say that hasn't been said?

In 97 I started watching Cricket, thought I'd timed it well when Nasser and Thropey put on a mega stand and we won the Test, alas, through that series I really did develop a hatred for Shane Warne, because he was smug, fat and arrogant, oh yeah, and he was Australian, and quite good, which may have had something to do with it.

Alas, I grew up (some on here may disagree!) and while I hate hate hate every wicket he takes against England, I can't help but admire him, and love him. The chant last summer, "we only wish you were English," it really is true, the guy is a legend, and it just won't be the same watching us lose to the Aussies without him.

I'm gonna try and get myself to a county game or two in the next couple of years, as I have never seen Warney play live (I don't get to all that many Cricket matches admittedly) and that's not an honour I want on my CV.

Great, great player. His legend will grow with time, and he will surely be remembered as being to legspin what Bradman is to batting. Incomparable.

 

[legglancer12]

Well Isnt life full of surprises ! I have harshly critisized Warne so meny times in the past. But the sadeness I feel this last few days is totally unexpected. When Iread the news 2 days ago I was hoping that it was a joke.


Co-written by Paul Anka & Frank Sinatra
As performed by Frank Sinatra


And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.
I've lived, a life that's full, I've traveled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
I did, what I had to do, and saw it through, without exemption.
I planned, each charted course, each careful step, along the byway,
and more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew,
When I bit off, more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up, and spit it out.
I faced it all, and I stood tall,
and did it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed and cried,
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing.
To think, I did all that, and may I say --- not in a shy way,
"Oh no, oh no not me,
I did it my way".

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things, he truly feels,
And not the words, of one who kneels.
The record shows, I took the blows ---
And did it my way!

I did it my way.

 

[silentstriker]

Holy crap mate, I'm listening to that song right now.

 

[legglancer12]

Holy crap mate, I'm listening to that song right now.

Really ??

 

[silentstriker]

Really ??

Ya

 

[silentstriker]

At first there were nerves and chubbiness. Then came wild soaring legbreaks, followed by fame and flippers. For a long while there were women, then a bookmaker, then diet pills, then more women - and headlines, always headlines. Now he has come out the other end, his bluff and bluster and mischief and innocence somehow intact. The man who in 2000 was rated among the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century was, in 2005, bowling better than ever. When Warne likened his life to a soap opera he was selling himself short. His story is part fairytale, part pantomime, part hospital drama, part adult's-only romp, part glittering awards ceremony. He has taken a Test hat-trick, won the Man-of-the-Match prize in a World Cup final and been the subject of seven books. He was the first cricketer to reach 650 Test wickets. He has swatted more runs than any other Test player without making a hundred, and is probably the wiliest captain Australia never had. His ball that gazoodled Mike Gatting in 1993, bouncing outside leg stump and cuffing off, is unanimously esteemed the most famous in history. He revived legspin, thought to be extinct, and is now pre-eminent in a game so transformed that we sometimes wonder where the next champion fast bowlers will come from.

For all that, Warne's greatest feats are perhaps those of the last couple of years. Returning from a 12-month hiatus for swallowing forbidden diuretics, he swept aside 26 Sri Lankan batsmen in three Tests, and the following year scalped a world record 96 victims - a stunning 24 more than in his show-stopping 1993 - and still missed out on the Allan Border Medal. Forty of those were Englishmen in what sometimes appeared to be a lone stand in a thrilling Ashes series. Nowadays he is helped by his stockpile of straight balls: a zooter, slider, toppie and back-spinner, one that drifts in, one that slopes out, and another that doesn't budge. Yet he seldom gets his wrong'un right and rarely lands his flipper. More than ever he relies on his two oldest friends: excruciating accuracy and an exquisite legbreak. Except that he now controls the degree of spin - and mixes it - at will. Like the great classical painters, he has stumbled upon the art of simplicity. His bowling has never been simpler, nor more effective, nor lovelier to look at.

Maybe, as with Posh Spice or Kylie Minogue, Warne is more famous than he is loved. Maybe we don't fully appreciate his genius; maybe, like Bradman's, it will become ever more apparent with the passing of decades. One thing's for sure, though. We'll weep when he's gone.

Wow, one of the few cricinfo pages that does the player justice.

 

[Burgey]

Great player - best cricketer I've seen in terms of changing the game and the force of his personality.
For me, the Chanderpaul ball - I was sitting in the Bradman stand behind the batsman, and when he bowled that ball, it was a four ball. Then it landed..... The closest I've ever seen to ball going at right-angles.
My Way sums him up pretty well - I thought the crowds at Melbourne andSydney might sing "Stay Just a Little Bit Longer", but it won't make any difference.

 

[Craig]

People are making it sound like he has just died

 

[silentstriker]

People are making it sound like he has just died

Cricketers become annoyances when retired (See, Bedi, Bishan and Dev, Kapil). Its better for them to just go away somewhere so our memories of them can be limited to the heroes they were when they played.

 

[AussieDominance]

You were a priveledge to Watch Shane keep it going in your last two Tests

 

[magsi23]

Oh well sad day for cricket, warne is a legend, will never be forgotten

 

[JF.]

It's been a privilege Warnie. Thanks for the memories. Cricket world wide will miss you.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Haha, kudos on posting the lyrics to My Way. Warne's perfect retirement anthem.

There's something about Warne retiring that changes cricket in a way that losing another player never could. The first test series I can remember watching was the 92/93 series against the West Indies, and I remember sitting up late and watching bits of the 1993 Ashes. Ever since then he's been such a major part of Australian cricket that you couldn't escape him if you tried. Even when he was injured or banned or bowling rubbish at the end of the 90s, he was always the centre of attention. When you mention cricket in Australia, the first names that come to mind are Bradman and Warne.

Even for people that hated him, he's such a part of Australian culture that losing him means the end of an era. He might not even have been the best bowler of his time, but he's certainly the most important.