Friday, December 22, 2006

The ball will never spin the same way... Again!

Come Jan 6th, 2007 and one of the most cherished bowler would have hanged his boots for the last time and cricket would be poorer by his absence. He is the bowler who brought to the speed-crazy public, the lost art of leg spin bowling. Such is the status enjoyed by this man from Victoria, Australia. Shane Keith Warne, aged 37 will be finally calling it quits ending a career which lasted 145 tests and 194 ODIs.

Cricket connoisseurs won’t forget the 1992 Ashes series when Shane announced his arrival in world cricket by bowling Mike Gatting out. This has been touted as the ball of the century by critics and fans alike, and rightly so.






In a career spanning 16 years, he has coaxed batsmen with his various guiles into giving their scalps, 699 of them (so far) in tests and 293 in the ODIs. He has been a consistent campaigner picking wickets against the best of the teams all over the cricket playing world. His moment of glory came when he, along with Sachin Tendulkar was invited to a tea party with the greatest batsman ever to have walked the turf, Sir Don Bradman in 1998.

He has always been the man, any captain would turn to whenever the situation demands. Few batsmen have been able to dominate him in the manner in which Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar have done.

But he has not always been the role model whom the parents would like their kids to emulate. He has been christened the BAD BOY in more than one occasion, been involved in match fixing even before the 1999 match fixing saga; stared in a number of sexapades and has also been found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs which made him miss ICC World Cup 2003.


But all in all, he has been a good ambassador for the game of cricket. As I started this topic, I reiterate.. The ball will never spin the same!





Good Bye.. Shane!

3 comments:

Nishant Ratnakar said...

Shane warne, Anil kumble and Muthaiyaa Muralitharan have definitely contributed in revival of spin bowling. Turning the clock back and looking at last 20 years of one day and test cricket you wil not find any other name to reckon with when it comes to art of spin bowling. The trio have created the glamour of spin bowling in a world which was crowded with batsmen and pace bowlers.

And when it comes to spin bowling the indian sub-continent has the reputation of being the only fertile ground to breed world class spinners. And in such a world Warney, an aussie has claimed his place in history to be known as(soon shall be) the first bowler in the history of test cricket to claim 700 victims.

good bye warney.

Unknown said...

@Nishanth
I totally agree with you. Shane, Murali and Anil have renewed and brought back young kids to take up spin bowling.

@Rasheed

Thanks for your appreciation. I am overwhelmed!

Anonymous said...

The ball ALMOST did spin the same way to claim Shane's 700th Victim day before yesterday and the Luckiest being Strauss. He is luckiest for being noted as Shane's 700th victim.

Regards,
Vijay.