The first I heard of Shane Warne was when leg spin legend 'Tiger' Bill O'Reilly was talking him up in an interview with Tim Lane in the very early 1990s. Just before he died, Tiger referred to Warney in glowing terms (Warne had only played a handful of first class games by that stage). He saw in Shane Warne the future of spin bowling and said he'll be a champion within two years. Some people thought Bill's love for spin was doing the talking, but most didn't dismiss him that easily. It would have been beaut if Tiger was alive to see Shane Warne open the bowling for Australia, as he did during a career of countless highlights.
After seeing the news this morning, I immediately recalled Shane Warne's first Test match ball in England in 1993 - since dubbed 'the ball of the century'. I remember sitting up watching it live, we all wanted to see how Warney would go against the poms. While he had already played Test cricket in Australia, S.K. Warne was still a relative unknown in England.
Watch these two clips, first commentary from Richie Benaud, another spin legend, who seemed to take it in his stride. The second with English commentator Jonathan Agnew at the BBC who reacted quite differently, the poms were knocked off their seats.
