It has been two years, since spin legend Shane Warne died at the age of 52. Rarely has there been a bowler who has left such indelible mark on world cricket. Warne ended up as the second-highest wicket taker in Test history. He was the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets. Ultimately, Warne took 708 wickets at an average of 25.41 in 145 Tests.
On his second death anniversary, his daughter Brooke Warner posted a heartfelt note on Instagram.
“2 years today Dad. It’s been the slowest and quickest 2 years without you. I feel like you were just here being silly with us and talking about how good the new season of Peaky Blinders is, and we will watch the next episode together when you come home. Life really doesn’t make sense without you here. We try and do you proud every day. I miss you, i love you forever.”
His Ashes debut in June 1993, arguably, gave the greatest cricket moment for posterity — thanks to the internet.
It was June 4, 1993. The venue was Old Trafford. Warne, until then a rookie with 31 wickets in 11 Tests, was getting ready to bowl his first delivery in England. The batter was Mike Gatting, the former Test captain who was a prolific player of spin bowling. What happened in the next seven seconds stunned the world.
Warne’s delivery first appeared to have travelled straight, but took a sharp right turn after pitching. Gatting responded by pushing his left foot forward in order to block the ball with the bat, a classic defensive batting technique against spin. However, the ball missed Gatting’s bat and spun dramatically to dislodge his stumps.
The ball stunned Gatting, Umpire Dickie Bird and the Channel 9 commentator, who remarked that the ball spun “two and a half feet” to hit the stumps. In retrospect, the delivery has been called “the ball of the Century”.
Years later, Gatting recalled the moment while speaking to the BBC: “It did spin an awfully long way from two or three inches outside leg stump…The ball had not brushed my bat, my glove or pad, so I thought Australia wicketkeeper Ian Healy must have kicked the bail off…The ball had clipped the bail.”
Warne ended up picking four wickets in both innings of the Test as Australia won by 179 runs.
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