Not about football but just seen the sad news of the sudden passing of the Aussie spin bowler, Shane Warne aged 52. He turned leg spin delivery into an art and I'll never forget his dismissal of Mike Getting. This so soon after the Aussies lot Rod Marsh.
Two big blows for Aussie cricket in such a short space of time. I had the pleasure of watching Warnie when I was based in Aus and not only was he a master of his art, he was also a decent bloke with a great sense of humour. Rod Marsh was everything you'd expect in an Aussie cricketer - hard, brash and bloody good. They both made an immense impact on the game and will be sadly missed.
Theres no glossing over the fact that Warne had a ban for using banned performance enhancing substances, that he took money from an illegal bookmaker (he admitted supplying information but denied match fixing) and that his charitable foundation was suspected of financial irregularities. He was definitely a controversial character. Everybody who met him seems to report him as being great company, and he definitely had charisma and lived a very full life that was cut far too short. The one thing that is beyond doubt is that he is one of if not the greatest spin bowler ever to play the game. If cricket fans the world over picked their best eleven of all time I reckon he would be in 99% of sides. A larger than life personality and a wonderful cricketer.
