At 48/0 chasing 214, South Africa was well on the way to ending their World Cup jinx but then Shane Warne stepped in with the big guns. In the space of three overs, he bagged three wickets to turn the tide in Australia's favour.
Australia v England, Brisbane 1994 Warne's best bowling in an innings came early in his career, with the leg-spinner taking 8-71 against England at the Gabba, Brisbane. Needing 508 to win, the Old Enemy looked to draw the match, but Warne had other ideas, bowling more than 50 overs to hand Australia a 1-0 series lead.
Australia v England, Melbourne 1994 Warne become the seventh player to take an Ashes hat-trick when he removed Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm with consecutive deliveries, the hat-trick ball brilliantly caught by David Boon at short leg.
England v Australia, Birmingham 2005 Twelve years after the Gatting Ball, Warne produced a delivery of arguably equal brilliance to remove opening batsman Andrew Strauss on the evening of day two at Edgbaston.
Warne's on-field superiority was also spotted by legendary Don Bradman, who invited him on his 90th birthday. Sachin Tendulkar was the other cricketer who got the invitation. Bradman's 90th birthday celebrations took place in Adelaide.“I remember Warnie was with me in the car and we were discussing who was going to ask the first question. I said, ‘You are from Australia, so you should start’. And he was like, ‘No, you’re a batsman, so you can relate to him much better than what I can’,' Tendulkar had told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2014.
Australia v England, Adelaide 2006 Entering day five, a draw seemed the only realistic outcome of the second Ashes Test. England led on the first innings with nine wickets in hand, but an inspirational spell by Warne flipped the game on its head, paving the way for an unthinkable Australian victory.
At 0-48 chasing 214, South Africa were well on the way to ending their World Cup hoodoo as a place in the final beckoned. Australia needed a breakthrough. Enter Warne. In the space of three overs he literally turned the game Australia's way, taking three wickets to wrestle the momentum back to Steve Waugh's men before the dramatic climax of arguably the greatest one-day international of all time.
In 2000, Warne passed Dennis Lillee as Australia's highest Test wicket-taker after he dismissed New Zealand's Paul Wiseman in Auckland to reach wicket number 356. Four years later in Chennai, India allrounder Irfan Pathan became Warne's 533rd Test victim, allowing Warne to surpass Muthiah Muralidaran as cricket's most successful bowler.
Warne become the seventh player to take an Ashes hat-trick when he removed Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm with consecutive deliveries, the hat-trick ball brilliantly caught by David Boon at short leg.
In 2000, Warne passed Dennis Lillee as Australia's highest Test wicket-taker after he dismissed New Zealand's Paul Wiseman in Auckland to reach wicket number 356. Four years later in Chennai, India allrounder Irfan Pathan became Warne's 533rd Test victim, allowing Warne to surpass Muthiah Muralidaran as cricket's most successful bowler