The Ashes Test series between England and Australia has come to epitomise all that is great and exciting about the game of cricket. The series reached new levels of excitement in 2005 when England,under Michael Vaughan's leadership, managed to end Australia's 18-year domination. Only an epic, 'Man Of The Series' perfomamance by Shane Warne kept Australia in the hunt right to the end, taking 40 wickets but still ending up on the losing team. But this Christmas, revenge was sweet Down Under!Now, with the Ashes series won back in Australia with a 5-0 whitewash of the England tourists led by Andrew Flintoff, - and with his retirement from the Test arena announced - here, for the first time, we provide a superb biographical account of Shane Warne's career in full.This heavily revised edition celebrates the career of one of the game's greatest players of all time, with pictures accompanied by commentary from the great man himself. It includes photographs from his own personal collection and superb professional photography of his key moments in cricket.
Author Biography
Australian Test cricketer Shane Warne is the finest leg spinner to play the game, and was indeed voted one of the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century. Who could forget how the now Aussie legend launched himself into England's consciousness in 1993 with his 'ball of the century' to a dumbfounded Mike Gatting? In the recent Ashes series of 2007, he was one of the main architects of England's calamitous 5-0 defeat, whilst also achieving a world record, and truly historic 700th Test wicket. With nothing else to prove, and at the top of his game in the international arena, he announced his retirement from Test level to worldwide acclaim. Richie Benaud captained Australia in 28 of his 63 Tests. This leg-spinning all-rounder never lost a series while in charge. He is only one of 10 Australians to have scored more than 10,000 runs and taken over 500 wickets in first-class cricket. He is now of course a hugely popular commentator. Since 1960 he has been a fixture in the commentary box. He is a close friend and huge fan of Shane Warne.
