Shane Warne

 Shane Warne dies of a heart attack on the weekend one day after Rod Marsh died of the same thing. you expect a man of 74 to die of a heart attack if it is a biggy. you rarely expect a amn of 52 to do the same thing.

Shane Warne was the greatest spinner in the history of the game. Ironically he had little variety. He basically bowled legspinners. Beautiful well flighted legspinners. He rarely bowled a googly. His flipper was a bewdy but again springly used. although he talked up a whole heap of deliveries he had, invariably he invented a new one before a test series, it was all bulldust.

He could inspire team mates and was a good leader when given the chance although off field activities meant he would never captain Australia.

Off the field he was called a larrikin. I think that is what we call womanisers here. He treated women terribly and marriage meant nothing to him.The less said about his foundation the better.

In some ways he was similar to Ian Botham. When young he could get away with a big night and play well the next day. As he got older it got much harder. Like most womaniser he was vain. Fancy getting a face lift to try and keep looking young.

He did not have any sort of intellect and in terms of cricket I rarely heard him say anything of interest but he did understand what brand Shane Warne was. He was very street smart and so made a lot of money.

In the end he got away with things on the cricket field he should not have. He never understood showing respect to your opponent which is essential if the spirit of cricket is to succeed. He also never had a McGrath moment which changed his behaviour.

In all a great shame.