For much of his storied career, it felt like every day was Shane Warne Day. But if there was one date which stood out most, it was January 2nd. It was on this day in 1992 that Warne made his Test debut, and exactly 15 years later he began his final game under the famous white sunhat.
Warne didn’t get into the action on that first day of his career. Australia were put in by India at the SCG and were only four down by stumps, and when he did eventually get the chance to bowl on the final four days he suffered a bit of a beating, taking just one wicket for 150 as Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar made hay in an eventual draw.
He’d take 707 more, though, overcoming those early nerves to become the most natural and confident Test cricketer you could ever wish to see. Warne made leg spin look easy, he had the ball under his spell constantly. Whether bowling a legbreak, a flipper, a googly or anything else in his vast armoury, he had batters trying to second- and third-guess what was coming next.
None of it was by accident either. When he made the move to commentary after his playing career had ended, he was one of the best in the business at explaining the game. He had a magnificent eye for the situation of any match, whether Test, ODI or T20.
He could verbalise just what was needed at any given time, and would convey the science behind his art in a way few others could begin to grasp. When he spoke, even the very best professionals were learning something new. Nobody knew the game better than Warnie.
His last two wickets came in the Fifth Ashes Test against England which started on January 2, 2007. When he left the field on the morning of the fourth day after helping to bowl the tourists out for a second time, he had his great mate Glenn McGrath alongside him as they headed off into the sunset together following a decade and a half of terrorising opposition batters.
The highlights in between those first and last Test appearances are too numerous to mention – from the ‘Ball of the Century’ to Mike Gatting to the similar delivery to Andrew Strauss, the stump-aloft celebration on the balcony to the sportsmanship in offering a hand to Kevin Pietersen in 2005 with the Ashes lost. Warne WAS Test cricket.
Australian commentator and former spinner Kerry O’Keeffe summed him up best shortly after Warne’s sudden death in March 2022. “The great thing about him was that he took 708 Test wickets, I took 53, but he treated me as an equal. He treated a lot of people as an equal,” he told Fox Sports. “He didn’t worry what your accomplishment in the game was, or in life was… if he liked you, he liked you and he respected you.”
Warne’s death in Thailand almost two years ago brought the entire sporting world to a standstill, and it still feels like cricket will take a long time to get over his premature passing at the age of 52. The commentary box at last summer’s Ashes series felt a little emptier without his larger-than-life personality. No “Good morning Athers, good morning everyone”. No masterclass tutorials on the art of spin bowling. No detailed analysis of the merits of a bat-pad fielder on the off-side.
But we continue to have the memories of him, and he left us with so many. It all started on January 2, 1992, and it’s on Shane Warne’s day of all days that we probably miss him the most.
