Shane Warne is the greatest cricketer of my generation. With his blond hair, sparkling blue eyes and general Aussie beach-bum appearance, the Australian leg-spinner has brought colour and excitement to the game of cricket for over a decade. Not only have his outstanding achievements on the field revitalised the art of leg-spin, they have made it sexy. Without knowing it, he has played a major role in the development of the game.
When Warne finally decides he has tortured enough batsmen with his flight, guile, spin and mystery he will sit favourably in the list of all-time greats. And this is why it must be hoped, for his and the game's sake, that Warne's positive drugs test for a diuretic, which was announced yesterday, is nothing more than an innocent oversight by the 33-year-old. The Australian Sports Drug Agency carried out the test on 22 January. A diuretic can be used as an aid to weight loss or, more seriously, to mask performance-enhancing substances. In the event that Warne's 'B' sample proves negative he could conceivably be recalled to the World Cup. Yet he now faces being kicked out of the game for two years, which would not be the note on which a legend should finish his career.
During the last 14 months the cigarette-smoking, beer-swilling larrikin with a keg under his shirt has become a highly tuned athlete with a six-pack. Through following a disciplined diet and training regime he shed over two stone. The surfer from Melbourne looks in the best shape of his life and to be suggesting this is down to anything but his own hard work is not a pleasant task.
Warne, who was selected as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the century, reminds me of the Manchester United and England footballer David Beckham. A good-looking superstar with a talent to die for. Within both these sportsmen is the burning desire to compete and be successful. Both consistently leave everything they possibly could on the field each time the final whistle is blown or the last wicket taken. It is why they are great sportsmen.
Having the nickname "Hollywood" and being the type of character who enjoys himself off the field always meant there was a good chance that controversy would appear on his CV at some stage. The most serious of his misdemeanours came in 1998 when he and Mark Waugh acknowledged that they had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker during a tour of Sri Lanka in 1994. Both players were fined by the Australian Cricket Board for their naïvety.
During his summer with Hampshire in 2000 he hit the front pages again. This time it was a phone sex scandal with a nurse that grabbed the headlines. The cost was significant for Warne. With an acute cricket brain, many had tipped him to be the man who would eventually take over from Steve Waugh as captain of Australia. After these revelations he lost the vice-captaincy to Ricky Ponting.
But it is for his achievements on the field that the best-ever spin-bowler should, and eventually will be, remembered. As a spinner he has the lot. At his best, Warne's right wrist and hand work like that of a magician. He has complete control over the leg-break, googly, top-spinner and back-spinner and he has invented a few new deliveries too. And it is no coincidence that these additions to his repertoire appear before each England Ashes tour. On the 1998-99 tour it was the "zooter" and, in the build-up to this winter's series, the "slider" came along.
For Warne this is all part of the game plan. As a spinner he cannot physically intimidate a batsman. The Victorian relies on mind games and mystery. His goal is to make you a shuffling bag of nerves by the time you reach the crease. With 491 Test wickets to his name he has succeeded in this on most occasions and he now needs only 29 to be highest wicket-taker of all time.
Nobody can forget Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket. It was at Old Trafford in 1993 and left Mike Gatting dumbfounded. Many will rate it as his best ball ever. I don't. The delivery I enjoyed most was the one which bowled Alec Stewart during the 1994-95 Ashes tour of Australia. During the first Test in Brisbane, Stewart had just cut a long hop, later found out to have been deliberately bowled, for four. The next ball pitched on the same spot and Stewart naturally went for the same shot. To the batsman's horror, however, it was the flipper. The ball skidded off the surface and crashed into Stewart's stumps.
For Stewart this was just the beginning of the torture as he spent hour after hour watching Warne to try to pick the change in his action when he bowled this delivery. Not only did Warne get the player out, mentally he had him where he wanted.
Despite his efforts to get fit, Warne is coming to the end of his career. Only last month he announced that he is to retire from one-day international cricket at the conclusion of the World Cup. This followed a dislocation of his shoulder in December during a VB series match against England.
It seems ironic that the 2003 World Cup could be the stage where he is seen to leave the game because, four years ago in England, it was where he possibly had his finest hours. After recovering from a serious shoulder injury, he played a major role in winning the World Cup for Australia. In both the semi-final and final he won the man-of-the-match award and showed why he is a great player. Warne is due to play at Hampshire again this summer. Cricket hopes that this is not the last we see of him.
CRICKET AND DRUGS
May 1987: Ian Botham becomes first cricketer to be punished for drug use, when he is suspended for two months for "bringing the game into disrepute by using cannabis".
June 1996: Sussex bowler Ed Giddins suspended for 19 months and sacked by his county after tiny traces of cocaine were discovered in a random test.
May 1997: Shropshire's Paul Smith suspended for 22 months after admitting taking cocaine and other drugs during his 15-year career with Warwickshire.
June 1997: Warwickshire's Keith Piper tests positive for cannabis; fined £500 and banned for one game.
September 1997: Phil Tufnell fined £1,000 and given suspended 18-month ban after refusing to provide urine sample.
April 2001: Western Australia's fast bowler, Duncan Spencer, tests positive for the steroid nandrolone, the first time a cricketer is caught taking performance-enhancing substance. Suspended for 18 months, although drug prescribed by doctor to aid recovery from back complaint.
May 2001: Report by the ICC's Anti-corruption unit warns of cricket's vulnerability to infiltration by drug cheats. Suggestions of unlawful use of performance-enhancing drugs and of players carrying drugs in cricket bags.
September 2002: ICC introduces random drug tests for all players at 2003 World Cup. The ICC president, Malcolm Gray, says: "We've got to ensure the game's name does not get smeared by any violations." Gray admits players might be taking banned drugs unwittingly in absence of doping policy.
