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The CW50 - No.4

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
We're just one short of the all time top three, and so the countdown continues with a footy player who spun leggies down in his spare time.


4.


Shane Warne | Cricket Players and Officials | Cricinfo.com
Nominated by 100% of voters - highest ranking no.1

It is a testament not only to Shane Keith Warne's extraordinary ability as a legspinner but also to his monumental impact on the game of cricket as a whole that he is the one and only player to have been nominated by everyone who contributed a list to this exercise. Acknowledged (with apologies to the Tiger and the Pimpernel) as the greatest legspin bowler of all time, more than one good judge of the game has gone further and claimed that Warney is - by both deed and legacy - the greatest bowler of any kind ever to pick up a ball, and as the highest ranking pure bowler on our list it would seem that CricketWeb agrees. One of the most charismatic, talked about and spectacularly controversial sportsmen of his or any other generation, Warne's talents as a cricketer were sometimes almost eclipsed by his seemingly self-destructive nature and peerless ability to become tabloid fodder. Warne more than once referred to his life as a soap opera and he wasn't wrong. But it was a soap opera that kept the eyes of the cricketing world - and much of the world beyond cricket, for that matter - glued to the blonde Victorian leggie for the better part of two decades.

Warne's early career gave no indication of the superstardom which would follow. A frustrated Australian Rules footballer, he was selected for Australia after just a handful of First Class matches and suffered a drubbing on Test debut from India's batsmen - not the last time that would happen, incidentally. But within a year he was winning a Test in Sri Lanka, taking 7-for against the West Indies and then capturing the world's attention with "that" ball to Mike Gatting which preceded a triumphant Ashes series. 1993 was the first of three consecutive years in which Warne would take more than 50 Test wickets, and for much of the '90s he was virtually unplayable. His 300th Test wicket came in January 1998, but after that came several barren years - injuries, loss of form, a balooning of weight and more regular brushes with authority, the press and fans. Despite continued ODI success and particular praise as a clever and enterprising captain, he was overlooked for the Test captaincy and even dropped on one occasion, and it seemed that the best of Warney had been and gone. But in a remarkable turnaround Warne took 31 wickets in the 2001 Ashes series, and in the ensuing years he was better than ever. Controversy was still never far away - an enforced year off for taking banned diuretics saw to that - but his bowling was simply sublime. Ironically, in a career of so many triumphs Warne's crowning individual performance came in defeat - his 40 wickets in the 2005 Ashes series, in a losing cause and all, was one of the all time great Test displays. Retiring after the 5-0 revenge drubbing in 06/07 with a then world record 708 Test wickets to his name, Warne's position as the second biggest name in the history of Australian cricket has become more and more assured with time and reflection. If and when the movie of his life is made, we'll surely all be queueing up to see it.


Only three to go now and you know who they are, so I'll keep them rolling tomorrow...
 

Jarquis

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Another great description there Sean. Quite surprised that Warney made it this high but when he's the only player on everybodys list it shows that he's not misplaced at #4. The 2005 Ashes was the trigger cause for my interest in cricket and one of the largest reasons that series was so special was because of Warne. Has to be one the most impressive solo-feats in a Test series in the modern era, maybe even all time.
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Too low :ph34r:

It's well-known how highly I think of Warne. For me, he was simply the best at what he did. Here is a player where the phrase "the stats don't tell half the story" applies. A wily spinner who kept you glued as if you were viewing a 150kph fast-bowler. With Warne, every ball felt an opportunity and when it was ripe there was no one who came picking at it more often. In all my years of watching cricket there is no player I would rate higher as a "matchwinner". A player whose aura alone got him wickets when his body couldn't. He made the most hardest type of bowling look easy and could seemingly spin the ball on a dime and tweak the rotations at will.

I will always remember him for his performances in the 99 World cup and I will never forget the 2005 Ashes in which he displayed, for me, the pinnacle of Test bowling. With his life in tatters and him in tears in the locker room...to come out and play the way he did makes it an even more unbelievable feat.

Cricket is an old sport, however, I thank my lucky stars that I was born in the era where Shane Warne spun his stuff because if people told me about his feats without me witnessing them I wouldn't believe them. I keep my signature as a testament to Warne so that if people do not believe me, they may believe other cricketers who are also greats and who revere Warne like I do.

I had him at #2, and if I could have persuaded my brain to go with my heart I would have had him at #1.
 
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BoyBrumby

Englishman
Think Warney was #7 on my list. A great bowler, unquestionably and also a more than useful lower order batsman and slip fielder. It sounds trite, but he did make spin bowling ***y again.
 

Fusion

Global Moderator
I had Warne at #11, which in retrospect was probably too low. Not that it mattered much as his #4 ranking here is probably too high. :p Anyway, a great bowler and player. He had great charisma to match and it was always a pleasure to watch Warney bowl.
 

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Love him at number 8 I think, Will remember him of course for his ashes performances but also for the fantastic job he did for Hampshire, may not have won the championship with us but he played a huge role in transforming them from a mediocre side into one of the better teams in the country. Hope he returns for a few twenty20 games this season so I can see him bowl one last time.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
I did, I've already explained the reasoning behind my list, and Warne is the cricketer I've enjoyed watching more than any other.
Me too, picked my list partly on the same basis as you. Whenever I saw Warne holding a cricket ball I hid behind my couch, no other cricket has (and I doubt will) ever had such an effect on me.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Way way too high, but one of, if not the, best spin bowlers in history.
When I saw the thread I knew you'd have posted something like that. FWIW I think you're right too.

There are some players who are exceptional and they go about their business in a workmanlike way, and there's nothing wrong with that. Fair to say Warne wasn't one of them. I was fortunate enough to see him bowl live many, many times and when people said the crowd sat forward in their seats, they weren't lying. I saw his 300th live, his first test (he was poor of course), his last test, saw him toy with Cullinan in a couple of ODIs, saw the last ball of the day to Basit Ali when he bowled him and the monster leg break to Chanderpaul. All of them were in Sydney, but I'd have walked to Perth to watch him bowl. Serious entertainer.
 
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Furball

Evil Scotsman
Me too, picked my list partly on the same basis as you. Whenever I saw Warne holding a cricket ball I hid behind my couch, no other cricket has (and I doubt will) ever had such an effect on me.
Haha, on the contrary I absolutely loved it when Warne bowled.

The tension, the slow build up in his run up, the appealing - it was sporting theatre at its finest.

Test cricket has been a lot poorer since Warne's retirement. With the exception of Flintoff in that glorious summer of 2005, I've yet to watch a cricketer and just expect to see a gamebreaking moment.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
To me this is another where judging against the field would give a different result to A vs B etc.

I didnt have him this high but I can see why some would. However, could you say for sure he was even the best player on his own team?

Having said that, I loved Warne and he is one of the few cricketers I would pay some of my hard-earned cash to go watch.
 
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