Shane Warne was born in 1969 in Ferntree Gully, Melbourne. He
is an ebullient leg spinner who has rewritten the record books
and almost single handedly revitalised the art of leg spin.
In short, he is a sensational player and one of the biggest
draw cards in the modern game. From a run-up which only encompasses
a few paces, Warne combines a complete armoury of leg breaks,
top spinners, googlies and flippers with enormous spin and considerable
accuracy. In many ways, he is in fact the complete leg spin
bowler. It should be said also that he is additionally a very
useful lower order batsman.
Although he started his international career
poorly he has occupied a central place in Australian teams
for the majority of the last decade. To complement his natural
skills, his bleached blond hair and larger than life personality
on the field have earned him the nickname of "Hollywood".
He has continued to maintain a status as one
of the world's most fearsome bowlers, a notion underlined
most clearly of all in the closing stages of the 1999 World
Cup when his brilliance earned him dual Man of the Match awards
and underpinned Australia's memorable performances in both
the Semi-Final against South Africa and the Final against
Pakistan. More recently, he has become Australia's highest
ever wicket taker in Tests (eclipsing Dennis Lillee's milestone
of 355 while on tour in New Zealand in 2000) and has been
afforded the glittering accolade of being anointed as one
of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Century. Warne came over
to the UK for the 2000 season to play for Hampshire and returned
for the 'Ashes' in 2001.
Shane was in the UK for the first two weeks
of July 2002 to appear on BBC's Wimbledon hightlights programme.
While in England Shane spoke with his best friend Merv Hughes
at a series of successful luncheons and dinners throughout
the country.
Shane returned to the UK for the summer of 2003
and 2004 to appear on TV shows such as A Question of Sport,
So Graham Norton, and They Think It's All Over.
In 2005, Shane Warne returned to Captain Hampshire and was
mainly responsible for them winning their first piece of silverware
in many years, as well as being runners up in the County Chamionship.
He also took part in the best cricket series ever played
'The Ashes' 2005. He took 40 wickets in the series and confirmed
that he is the greatest bowler the world has ever seen.
He was a special guest on The Graham Norton show as well
as The Frank Skinner Show.
In December 2005, he was awarded BBC TV's prestigious ' Overseas
Sports Personality of the Year award for his outstanding contribution
to The Ashes and also to Cricket.
His many fans are looking forward to seeing Shane return
to the UK to Captain Hampshire for the 2006 season.
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