One of the greats of Cricket, the Australian legend Shane Warne passed away at the age of 52 last night in Thailand. The legendary Aussie leg spinner took 708 wickets in test cricket making him the second-highest wicket-taker in the red-ball format in history. Here we will look at some of the memorable moments from his time in the game.

The Arrival Of A Genius

Warne made his test debut against India and it was not that impressive start from him. In 1992, after he played two matches he had only one wicket at a cost of 228 runs. After that, he played against Sri Lanka on a spin-friendly subcontinent wicket where he took three wickets from two games. But it was when West Indies arrived in Australia to play five test matches later that year, in the second game at the MCG, Warne’s home ground, he took 7/52 in the second innings to make Windies collapse for 219. He was named man of the match and was now on his way.

The Ball of the Century

In 1993, Warne played his first Ashes test in England and the first ball he bowled, created history. After taking 31 wickets in 11 tests before that, Warne was yet to create his name in the game. After having some tough warm-up games, expectations were never on his shoulders. The first ball he bowled to Gatting, turned two feet after pitching to hit the stump. It’s not the ball spinning two feet from way outside leg stump to knock off the top of the off bail, it’s the drift. Shane finished the series taking 34 wickets, and the legend was born. That Gatting ball is now known as the ball of the century.

ODI Magic

Apart from his brilliance in test cricket, Warne had some great performances in the limited over format as well. It was the 1999 ICC cricket world cup semi-final against South Africa where he has shown his magic when his team was in trouble. The Aussies were defending only 214 and the Proteas were looking for favourites to chase it down. Then comes Warne to pick three wickets in three overs to turn the game around. The match is more famous for the Alan Donald run out on the last ball, but the man of the match was awarded to Shane Warne for his brilliant four-for.

Setting Basit Ali Up With Tricks

In the 1995/96 series, Warne was given the ball to bowl the final over of the day in the third test against Pakistan. Basit Ali was on the crease.

“Basit Ali had been sort of annoying us a lot of the time because he was always holding us up,” Warne later said.

“Every time we were ready to play, he’d do his shoelaces up or call for gloves.”

Before bowling, Warne called up his teammates for a discussion, which was in reality just to annoy Basit Ali. Everyone thought that the conversation was going on regarding the tactics of the game. But the actual conversation, according to Warne, went like this.

“‘Heals, what are we doing for dinner tonight, mate?’,” Warne said of the exchange.

“We talked about pasta or Mexican or what we were going to do. We just generally held up play so we could just annoy Basit Ali.

“In the end Heals sort of said: ‘C’mon, just do something, bowl him around his legs or through ’em … just do something.”

From around the wicket, Warne bowled a leg-break that pitched way outside leg stump. Ali tried to let the ball go, but it spun viciously straight between his legs and crashed into the stumps.

“You would not believe it, he’s done him between his legs,” Benaud said in a commentary.

“Well, whatever it was they talked about you can bet your life in future it’ll be, ‘Why don’t you give him the one that will bowl him between his legs.”

“We couldn’t stop laughing,” Warne said.

Incredible Performance Against Arch-Rivals England

In the test series against England, despite winning the first test at Lords, Glenn McGrath got injured before the next match. Warne had to take double responsibility for the Australian bowling attack in the absence of McGrath. Warne took 40 wickets in the series but ultimately Australia lost 2-1. An incredible bowling performance on a losing cause earned him the man of the series award. In 2006/07 Australian summer, Warne and Australia got revenge, defeating England in a 5-0 series whitewash at home. He took his 700th wicket in his final MCG Test during the series, before finishing his career with 708 dismissals — a record that has only been beaten by Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan.

Cricket indeed lost a great character and a genius who still had so much to give to this game.