Shocking and terribly sad news. He'll be unknown to a lot of readers here, but to everyone in the cricket-following world, which is a huge portion of the world, he was a bona-fide superstar. (For context, to Australians and many others around the world, this will be felt as deeply as the passing of Steve Irwin was).
He was one of the biggest names in the game from the early 90s till the mid-00s, and has continued to be a well known figure through the media and on Twitter.
He made his mark with his first-ever delivery for Australia in England, which was dubbed "the ball of the century". It completely bamboozled one of the world's best batters, and was the first of many amazing feats through his career.
Most people will be asleep in Aus right now, this will have the nation talking tomorrow.
I recall Shane as an icon of my childhood, while he was at his prime. He was an inimitable character in the sport and someone looked up to by so many young athletes.
Was just about to go to sleep and saw this. Now I'm on YouTube remembering how her could make that ball seemingly teleport, defying time, space, physics. If we didn't have slow-mo to see what really happened people would claim it was magic.
I saw the number 1 on that list, the famous 'Gatting ball', live. You could tell that something odd had happened because Gatting was obviously bowled and yet didn't immediately walk off, and also that there was a loud 'ooh' from the spectators behind Warne's arm. But it wasn't until we saw the instant replay on the big screen that it was clear just how impressive that ball had been.
Plus it inspired the song 'Jiggery Pokery' by The Duckworth Lewis Method, which is another reason to remember it fondly.
Such sad news. Definitely the greatest leg spinner of all time and one of the best bowlers of all time. I remember watching him bowl in a test series in South Africa in the 90s, and we were all shocked by not only the turn he managed to generate, but the variety of balls he could bowl, including the deadly googly. I remember him opening the bowling in one of the test matches, which was relatively unheard of at the time (although I'm unable to verify this through some quick searching, so hopefully my memory doesn't deceive me.) Such a joy to watch, even if you were on the opposing team.
Your memory is correct, he indeed opened bowling twice in his career. Once against SA and once against Sri Lanka. Both were 2nd innings though, so by the time the wicket was most likely more deteriorated and perfect for spinning
Such a sad news. Even though he would destroy India on a regular basis, I remember being completely awestruck by the amount of spin he could get on a ball. Truly a remarkable cricketer who changed spin balling completely.
This is unbelievable and very, very sad. He was only 52. In fact, he had tweeted a few hours previously about fellow cricketer Rod Marsh having passed away less than a day ago.
Shocking and terribly sad news. He'll be unknown to a lot of readers here, but to everyone in the cricket-following world, which is a huge portion of the world, he was a bona-fide superstar. (For context, to Australians and many others around the world, this will be felt as deeply as the passing of Steve Irwin was).
He was one of the biggest names in the game from the early 90s till the mid-00s, and has continued to be a well known figure through the media and on Twitter.
He made his mark with his first-ever delivery for Australia in England, which was dubbed "the ball of the century". It completely bamboozled one of the world's best batters, and was the first of many amazing feats through his career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3V-sYH0Sks