HE was the no-nonsense bowler with an arm like lightning on the field and an equally explosive personal life off it.
Today, Australian cricketer Shane Warne died from a suspected heart attack on the tropical island Koh Samui, Thailand, at the age of 52.
Shane Warne has tragically died at the age of 52
Fox Sports, who he commentated for, reported that he was “found unresponsive in his villa” and “despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived”.
Tributes have poured in to mark the legend’s passing including from Gary Lineker, who said he couldn’t “quite believe it”.
The Match Of The Day star added: “Terribly saddened and shocked to hear the news that Shane Warne has died. The greatest spin bowler of all time.”
Sun columnist Piers Morgan tweeted: “He was a genius cricketer, a supreme entertainer, a fantastic bloke and a great loyal friend for many years.”
Widely considered one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Shane’s iconic ‘Ball of the Century’ at Old Trafford in 1993 is to this day the sport’s most-watched clip in history.
Nonetheless, with a history of partying, boozing and womanising – which culminated in an infamous romance with actress Liz Hurley and the end of his 10-year-marriage – the legendary sportsman became just as famous for his antics away from the field.
Here we remember his colourful and controversial life.
Follow our Shane Warne blog for live updates on his death
Aussie prodigy with arm like lightning
Shane Warne is carried around the field with the official Ashes Trophy by Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds in 2007
Shane’s talent was recognised early at school, in Victoria, Melbourne, when he was offered a sports scholarship to attend Mentone Grammar.
Around the age of 14, he represented the University of Melbourne Cricket Club where his skills for leg-spin and off-spin bowling set him apart.
It led on to a career playing for his national squad, which helped him to become known as one of the greatest bowlers in cricketing history.
In 1993, his ‘ball of the century’ bowl made history thanks to a purely magical moment against Englishman Mike Gatting in the Ashes.
The bowler caught him off guard with a drift and spin that led to gasps in the stadium and mockery of the batsman.
“He looked as though someone had just nicked his lunch,” former England captain Graham Gooch commented on the bowled out player’s reaction.
In 1999, he was the joint-leading wicket-taker for Australia when they won the World Cup.
Performance was everything to Shane, who took 708 test wickets and scored more than 3,000 test runs during a stellar international career that spanned 15 years until 2007.
He broke a number of Ashes records including most wickets in competition history with 195, which was 38 more than second-place Glenn McGrath.
Shane’s test wicket tally in 2005 also topped the charts when he managed 96, including 40 in the Ashes, which remains the most for a player in a single calendar year.
Affairs & booze fallout
A romance with Hollywood star Liz Hurley ended in heartbreak
Shane with ex-wife Simone
He was grabbing headlines around the world, not only for his performances but his antics on and off the field.
Shane was renowned for his romances, including an alleged affair with legendary model and actress Liz Hurley.
In 2005, his wife of 10 years Simone Callahan – who he had three kids with – left him amid reports of cheating.
It followed previous claims he sent explicit texts to a British nurse in 2000 and allegedly pursued student Laura Sayers and mum-of-three Kerrie Collimore.
After Simone called time on her marriage to Shane, he claimed it was his “lowest” point and he turned to booze.
“I would go back and raid the minibar. I was on my own on the hotel room floor, crying ‘you d***head,’” he recalled.
By 2011, Shane was engaged to Hurley, but the pair separated two years later.
On his show A Week With Warnie, he described being “quite sad it’s over” and that he cared deeply about her.
“I didn’t introduce her to my children until it was real and I believed it had a future – it wasn’t just a bit of fun,” Shane added.
10 pints and chicken and chips each night
The ‘bad boy of cricket’ was one of the greatest to grace the sport
Shane earned an army of fans for his cheeky antics – including when he was sent home from a cricket academy for dropping his trousers in 1990 and branded “a liability”.
“I was the renegade,” he said. “I mooned at some people on the balcony in Darwin.”
Shane also had a tendency to stick his two fingers up at authority, which led to praise from musicians including Ed Sheeran and Chris Martin.
Sheeran described Shane as “one of the few rock ‘n’ roll sportsmen”, while Martin was impressed by his attitude.
He said: “This guy doesn’t give a f*** but is somebody who gives a f*** more than anyone else.”
The cricketer also battled yo-yoing weight and was his largest in 1991, when he gorged on “10 pints and chicken and chips” every night.
Shane managed to turn it around and was proud of the fact that he could still eat pizzas, pies and “spaghetti hoops for breakfast” but “in moderation”.
Over his lifetime, he developed an unhealthy smoking habit of up to 50 cigarettes a day.
At one point he was paid £200,000 by Nicorette, an aid to quit smoking, but was later snapped puffing a cigarette.
In 2003, he was banned from cricket taking a banned substance, which he claimed was a diet pill.
He explained: “I’m so anti-drugs. I never took drugs.”
‘Cricket is a simple game’
Despite the difficulties that dogged Shane’s career, it seemed he never let it impact his performance.
This came even during the 2005 Ashes when England won and the fans brutally sang “Where’s your missus gone?” for hours.
He said: “The only way I got over everything was because I was tough upstairs. I blocked everything out.”
Shane’s talent was unquestionable and while his personal life was rocky at times, the cricketer was always refreshingly honest.
He said: “I don’t pretend to be the perfect person, I’ve got loads of faults.”
It’s hard to quantify the blood, sweat and tears Shane poured into the game, but to him it never seemed that tricky.
He said: “To me, cricket is a simple game. Keep it simple and just go out and play.”
Shane and former fiancee Liz Hurley with his children Summer, Jackson, Brooke and Hurley’s son Damien
