Whirling Warne - A Tribute to The King of Spin

 by Indie Stone

Shane Keith Warne - A true legend to the cricketing world; one of, if not the best cricketers of the century. A jedi master of revolutions, his ways with the ball are unrivalled, incomparable and peerless: Godly, even. Warney was the only one who could do it. The one and only King of Spin.

Tragically, at the lamentably young age of only 52, this great paladin died abruptly of a suspected heart attack. Found dead in Koh Samui, Thailand, this unanticipated bomb of misfortune shook up the world like a storm. However, to deem the event even more dreadful, it followed the death of another cricketing hero, Rod Marsh. Mike Atherton, a chief cricketing correspondent and commentator, expressed that, "Really, in a week in which Rod Marsh, another giant of Australian cricket, also died, this is too much to bear. It is impossible even now to believe that someone so vital, so full of energy, so fizzing with the enjoyment of life's rich possibilities could be dead at the age of 52.'

Despite Warne’s ability to manipulate the cricket ball like a pirouetting ballerina, everyone who knew the spinner remarked on his bubbling character, something that radiated from every minute of cricket he played. Although it’s a cliche to say that sport reveals true temperament, it never was that truer than with Warnie. Whenever he played, his animation on the field would shine through; when watching him play, he was a chancer, a gambler. Someone so street smart and intelligent about every move, a lord at deceiving the opponent, of playing them, outsmarting them. Reckless at times. This was why the man was so greatly adored on top of his spectacular skill. This is why he will be missed so dearly: a cricketer with buckets of prowess with the finest spirit around. The world stopped spinning when he was found dead, and so did his incredible balls.

Atherton say, "It can be said without contradiction that Shane Warne was the greatest leg spinner in the history of the game." With 708 wickets in his 145 Tests and 293 wickets in 194 ODIs, the man was a changer of the game. Although being turfed out by the Australian Cricket Academy due to his hot-headedness, he found a mentor with another rebellious streak, Terry Jenner. He knocked Shane into place after making sure that the boy took cricket seriously. And he did. Ambitious enough to want to succeed and tap into his raw talent, the pair hammered away towards the route to total mastery. With sore and blistered fingers, the twirler acquired the essentials: the hard-spun leg break, his stock ball, the googly, the out of the hand, and his signature flipper. Mastered them all, he had.

Landing in England for his first Ashes series in 1993, he was told not to show any of his skills. Nonetheless, Warne's first ball was sent fizzing towards Mike Gatting, a cricketer himself accustomed to facing the art of spin, dipping and diving until hitting the outside leg stump and turning almost 90 degrees, smashing the top of off stump. Gatting, standing aghast and shaken, was totally deceived and speechless at this wizardry. The ball of the century. A ball that started a miracle, and a ball that remembers the man who put a twist on the game. The King of Spin.