An Interview with Shane Warne

 James with his childhood hero, Shane 

 A message, the charming, Shane wrote for 

 my school friend, Peter Holmes 

During his playing days, Shane Warne was without doubt a special cricketer. He was the finest spin bowler of them all with many going as far as declaring him the greatest cricketer to ever play the game. That assessment would accommodate not only his skill as a bowler, but also his gift as an entertainer.

From the moment the spin star bemused Mike Gatting just over sixteen years ago with that fizzing first delivery, Warne has dominated the game and frustrated many of those standing at the other end of the wicket with, not only his mesmeric talents as a cricketer but also with his barbaric competitive streak, which has helped him, throughout his career, ruthlessly tear sides apart.

Although the charismatic legend made his name from a number of different turning deliveries, the affable Warne, who has 708 Test wickets to his name, doesn't spin off the field. The straight talking Aussie, who has a very physical presence, spoke frankly and was reluctant to pad a way any questions preferring, instead, to hit them for six, saying, "ask whatever you want mate."

Now retired from the international game, you are more likely to catch the leg spinning legend around a poker table than you are on a cricket pitch, as he tries his hand in the professional game.

The tanned Aussie explains, "I’ve played poker my whole life. I probably started as a 12 or 13-year-old with matchsticks. But I've only really been playing tournaments in the last three years, but I've really developed a passion for it."

Throughout his illustrious cricketing career, Shane was very good at playing mind games against his opposition, but has he ever tried dropping a few choice insults at the table? "Well, a few of the Yanks at the World Series all thought they were 'Eddie the Expert'. They thought they knew exactly everything about every hand, so occasionally there was a bit of sledging going on, but most of the time it was all pretty relaxed and I'd just go about my business and keep my mouth shut. I don’t really say much."

Adding with his mischievous school boy look, "Give me another year or so…"

Shane, who was born in Ferntree Gully, Australia, begins to talk about his childhood, making the room come alive. He says, with no sense of regret, "I used to get the cane a lot for misbehaving. At school, I wasn't the sharpest tool in the box so if I didn’t understand, I would act the fool. I would then have to go down and see the principle who would practise his golf swing with six of the finest."

Jokily adding, "I must have enjoyed it because I kept on going back."

'Warney', as he is known affectionately by his thousands of loyal fans, has basked in the glory of no fewer than seven Ashes series wins, taking an incredible 195 wickets in 36 Ashes tests, leaving many of England’s batsman bamboozled on more than one occasion. Not only have his outstanding achievements on the field revitalised the art of leg-spin, but they have made it sexy. Without knowing it, Warne has played a major role in the development of the game.

So what is the secret to facing the world's most successful leg spinner? Shane revealed, "Just watch the hand and how the ball comes out of the hand and you'll know exactly what's happening."

When Warne, the cigarette-smoking, beer-swilling sportsman, packed in the jet-set life style of an international cricketer two years ago, many found it incomprehensible that he actually even thought about leaving the sport when there was clearly so much more there for us to enjoy. A smiling, Shane explains, "A lot of people said you’ll get to an age when you’ll know when it’s time to retire, but I didn’t get that. But then I did and I knew it was my time. It’s better they say to you why did you, then why didn’t you?"

The legend, however, really began in England during that famous Test match of 1993 when he bowled Mike Gatting with the 'ball of the century'. A moment of cricketing history was born, changing his life forever. Shane humbly says, "It was a fluke. To do that on your first ball when you’re nervous and you haven’t been playing for long and you’re playing against England and Mike Gatting, who’s a superb player, to just land it was a fluke."

Shane made spin bowling sexy with that one bowl, and single-handedly transcended the sport. Soon fast bowlers were shoved to one side with leg-spinners coming to the fore.

But what struck me most about this loveable rogue was that he didn’t actually ever dream about being a top class cricketer.

Stretched out in his seat, Warne explains, "Being a Victorian it’s all about Aussie Rules Football and I wanted to play Aussie Rules when I was growing up, but I wasn’t good enough."

Astonishingly confessing, "I just played cricket in the summer because most of my buddies did, but I was a batsman not a bowler."

With his blond hair, sparkling blue eyes and general Aussie beach-bum appearance he explains, "The bowling didn’t really interest me because I was being whacked around and I wasn't very good. It's tough being a spinner when you’re not that good and it's quite embarrassing as a youngster when you're bowling double bouncers or the ball goes over the fence and they can’t find it."

He explains, "My success has been down to hours and hours of practise. I could always spin the ball, but the accuracy came a lot later."

So were those rumours true that Warne, the man who had been at the forefront of England's downfall on so many occasions, was really going to come and coach the three lions? With a wry smile and a brief chuckle Shane says teasingly, "I wouldn’t rule anything out."

Although Warne's life has been plagued by scandal and controversy both on and off the field, that is all part of the legend, and he will forever be remembered for torturing batsmen with his flight, guile, spin and mystery, all factors which mean England can breathe a sigh of relief that they do not have to face him in this summer's Ashes.