Lillee bettered, Warne aims for 500

After surpassing Dennis Lillee as Australian No 1 by claiming the wicket of tailender Paul Wiseman, Warne predicted he could keep playing another three or four years. He’s now ranked No 9 in international Test bowling standings behind Kapil Dev, New Zealander Sir Richard Hadlee, current West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh and Pakistan’s Wasim Akram.

Lillee, who took 355 wickets in 70 Tests between 1971-84, said Warne was “the best bowler I’ve seen. He’s a long way from finished yet and I have no doubt he can become the first cricketer to crack the once unimaginable target of 500 victims,” he said.

“There is no sadness about seeing the benchmark change hands because it couldn’t have gone to a more worthy bloke,” Lillee wrote in a syndicated newspaper column.

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor, a former team-mate, said Warne had “changed the face of cricket the world over. I believe his contribution to cricket is greater than any other player in the past 20 years,” he added. It was a historic dismissal, triggering huge celebrations within the Australian team and throughout Australia. The Australians matched a national record of eight successive Test wins set by Warwick Armstrong’s team of 1920-21 and registered their first win at Eden Park in 23 years.

The fact that Warne had struggled with his bowling and Wiseman — a No 11 not renowned for his skill with the bat — gloved a simple catch to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist didn’t ruin the moment for the 30-year-old spinner. “As I said before, I’d take the record any way,” he said. “On a long hop or a full bunger, any way.”

Warne, who made his debut by taking 1-50 against India in 1992, said a telephone call from Lillee had helped him refocus on his bowling. “He said `Just go out there and do it, mate, you deserve it’,” Warne said.

“He said he gets a lot of pleasure out of watching me bowl and, for me personally, I idolised him growing up as a kid and it’s great to be up there with him … I feel proud.”

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper described Warne as the “Wicket Wizard” in Thursday’s headline, plastering pictures of the golden-haired spinner on front and back pages.

Warne’s record made the front page of the Australian, the wide-circulation national newspaper. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph published a wall poster containing a picture of a jubilant Warne surrounded by the names of his 356 victims.

The celebrations also reverberated through the Australian Parliament. Australian Prime Minister John Howard was among the first to send a fax of congratulations to Warne. “The fact that you broke the record by taking the last wicket to clinch yet another fighting win for the Australian Test team, would, no doubt, have made your great achievement all the more memorable,” Howard wrote.