The 2023 Ashes series will have a very different feel about it to any of those which have passed in the last 30 years. Whether as a player or a pundit, Shane Warne’s imprint has been all over the contest since he burst onto the scene with THAT BALL in 1993, and cricket fans the world over are still mourning his death in March 2022.
This summer’s clash between England and Australia is the first between the old enemies since Warnie’s passing, so the impact he had on the great rivalry bares some reflection heading into Friday’s opener at Edgbaston.
Here are just a handful of the great memories he made when competing in the Ashes.
1993: The Ball of the Century
This one needs little explanation. On the second day of the First Test at Old Trafford, England were 80 for 1 in response to a modest 289 from the tourists. But when Allan Border threw the ball to Shane Warne for his first delivery in Test cricket on these shores, the match, the series and the sport itself changed.
The bleached-blonde 23-year-old tossed up a leg break which pitched well outside Mike Gatting’s leg stump. Not unreasonably, the experienced batter planted his front foot outside leg and tucked his bat alongside his pad, only to see the ball find a footmark and turn a remarkable distance to clip the outside of his off stump. Warne’s legacy was cemented right there and then.
1994/95: Hat-Trick
Nobody had taken an Ashes hat-trick in 91 years until England were 91 for 6 on the fifth morning at the MCG in December 1994. Warne was 0 for 16 off 12.3 overs when he stepped up to bowl to Phil DeFreitas.
A straighter one caught the Derbyshire all-rounder deep in his crease and the lbw call was an inevitability. One ball later, a young Darren Gough was lunging forward and edging to wicketkeeper Ian Healy. Devon Malcolm was then met with six fielders in catching positions, and when he edged a defensive shot onto his front pad, short leg David Boon took an excellent diving catch.
Nine decades’ worth of Ashes history had been made in three balls.
2001: 31 Wickets
Australia had just lost their sheen as an all-conquering outfit in India a few months earlier. Harbhajan Singh’s 28 wickets in two Tests, including the first hat-trick by an Indian, and a mammoth second-innings 281 for VVS Laxman in Kolkata had helped to overturn a 1-0 Aussie lead to secure the hosts a 2-1 win. Steve Waugh’s side actually looked beatable and English fans were becoming hopeful.
Cue Warne and Glenn McGrath becoming the only bowling duo in the 21st Century to take 30 wickets each in a series as Australia hammered England. Warne took eight wickets in an innings victory first up, then his 6 for 33 in the third game at Trent Bridge basically won his side the Ashes. He’d add 11 more dismissals in another big innings win at The Oval to end the series, and the legendary leggie had put England firmly back in their box.
2005: Congratulating KP
Even in defeat, Warne proved he was a class act. The 2005 series was the only Ashes he was on the receiving end of but yet his 40 wickets ought to have been more than enough to lay the groundwork for an Australia win.
More than that, he was a humble loser, immediately running over to congratulate Kevin Pietersen after his dismissal having smashed the wonderful 158 which had won England the series at The Oval. It was the kind of scene which proved the Ashes to be a contest of fervent sportsmanship but also deep respect.
“I was proud because I’d seen KP, I was captain at Hampshire,” Warne explained some time later. “I’d watched first hand how good he was and how destructive he could be, and I was glad the world got to see wonderful a batsman KP was and how good he made cricket to watch.”
2006/07: 700th at MCG
Shane Warne. The MCG. The Boxing Day Test. If there is a Holy Trinity in cricket, that is it, and on December 26, 2006 we saw one of the great moments in the sport’s history as Warnie became the first bowler in history to reach 700 Test wickets.
In front of his adoring local public, Warne pitched up the ball to invite a cover drive from Andrew Strauss but the tourists’ opener couldn’t deal with the turn and the ball took out his off stump. The capacity crowd of 89,155 went wild as the bowling great wheeled away in crazed celebration. The ovation went on for some time, with the then-37-year-old holding aloft the wicket-taking ball in acknowledgement as the acclaim continued. As a snapshot of what Warne meant to Melbourne and what Melbourne meant to Warne it was absolutely perfect.
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