Cricket’s ultimate spin doctor

Shane Warne was in perfect shape for his last World Cup. The tall glasses of beer, bags of potato chips, slices of pizza were on his banned ...

Shane Warne was in perfect shape for his last World Cup. The tall glasses of beer, bags of potato chips, slices of pizza were on his banned list.

The gym and nets had become his permanent base stations with the waistline showing a drop in size — from 36” to 32” — and the weighing machine reading going back by 12 kgs!

Did you know?
• The alleged payment made to Warne by one Asian bookie for pitch information was $(A)1,000, less that what was paid to Mark Waugh
• When top golfer Nick Faldo met Warne at a dinner in Melbourne last month he asked the Aussie great to sign a napkin for his son who’s a wicketkeeper. Warne obliged with an essay
• Promised $128,000 for staying off cigarettes, Warne was caught smoking on camera during the tour of New Zealand by a teen spectator. Warne snatched the camera, the kid’s dad got wild and threatened to sue
• Once, as part of the famous pre-Ashes Australian pressure tactics, Warne boasted of perfecting a rare delivery that would spin back towards him after pitching. It was a bluff but had the paranoid English on edge for quite a while
Greatest WC moment
Warne took some time to warm up in the last World Cup but when he did, in the semi-final against South Africa, it was with devastating effect. He had figures of 4/29 in that match, then followed it up with 4/33 in the final against Pakistan. Two Man of the Match awards in the two most important games

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But on December 15, six weeks before the big date in South Africa, world cricket’s most prized shoulder got dislocated.

Australia shuddered, sponsors went cold and organisers rushed for their aspirins. Thankfully, Warne’s back on track, turning up for his state side Victoria, tweak firmly in tow. And so the worries can go back where they belong, to the faces of all the batsmen who have to face him.

He’s in his twilight, sure, and easer to read now than in his pomp. But he’s known to turn it on for the big occasion. And they don’t come any bigger than this.

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