Shane Warne – The Turn King
Shane Warne is considered as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Warne played international cricket for Australia from 1992 to 2007 and took more than 1000 international wickets. Only Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan took more international wickets than him. He was also a useful lower order batsman. Warne was the only Test cricketer to score more than 3000 runs without a Test century. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2013.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Partnership with Terry Jenner:
Terry Jenner became a spin-bowling coach at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide during the 1989-90 season. Rod Marsh was also part of the academy. He requested TJ to work with an exciting young leggy who looked very promising. Soon they found a connection between them and the journey of learning the art of leg spin began for Shane Warne.
Shane knew how to bowl leg spin, googly or top spin delivery but he didn’t know when to bowl it. TJ taught him the philosophy of leg spin, how to set up a batsman, when to bowl which delivery and how to set the field accordingly. TJ’s contribution in Shane’s life was massive.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Ball of the Century:
Australian cricket team was touring England in 1993. Before the first Test match, Australia played a practice match against Worcestershire. Graeme Hick hit Warne all over the park. It was a brutal display of batting and Warne lost his confidence completely. However, Border showed trust in him and assured that Warne would play the first Test match at Old Trafford.
England won the toss and elected to field first. Australia scored 289 runs in the First innings. England lost the wicket of Michael Atherton just before lunch on the second day and Mike Gatting came to crease. Border called Shane immediately. He was very nervous and prayed to bowl a perfect leg break and spin it hard. The first ball pitched outside leg, missed the bat by a whisker and hit the top of off stump. The most perfect leg break ever bowled in History of the game.
Embed from Getty ImagesReferences:
- Shane Warne – wiki
- Shane Warne – espncricinfo
- Terry Jenner – Wiki
- scorecard
- Penguin Books UK
- Ball Of The Century
Featured Image Credit: Chris Brown – Warney – CC BY 2.0 (resized as per the need and changed the background)