The Flawed Flamboyance of a Modern-Day Wizard

A boyish, almost cherubic grin, a short, slightly angular run-up, the cocked right arm whirling over in the classical leg spinners ‘away from the ears’ delivery in a way that imparted maximum side spin, resulting in the ball spinning like a top. 

A familiar scenario that struck terror in the hearts of many a top-class batsman as a much-loved Aussie maestro waltzed his way to 708 Test Match wickets in a glittering career that looks unlikely to be bettered – ever. 

And to paraphrase Shakespeare’s ‘To Be or Not To Be’ – the question that remained uppermost in the minds of a whole generation of bamboozled batsmen was ‘Will it spin away or in?’ Would it turn out be a legspinner or a googly, or perhaps a skidding topspinner that went straight on – as they gazed mesmerized at the oncoming delivery as it spun and stung like a striking cobra, leaving them helplessly rooted and transfixed to the crease, no matter how well settled they were. 

Shane Warne personified the quintessential larger than life, brash, aggressive, fun- loving ‘fair dinkum’ Aussie down to the very last detail and pommie bashing, specially in Ashes contests where he once picked up a Hat-Trick at the MCG to go with his other exploits, remained one of his favourite pastimes, right till the shocking, untimely end. 

His happy- go- lucky exuberance often got the better of him and earned him a certain notoriety that was perhaps not always fair to him, but nevertheless served to add to his charisma of a modern day genius.  And to his aura of one of the true all-time greats of the game. 

Sadly, like many of his victims bamboozled by the extravagant turn that he produced seemingly out of nowhere on fast, bouncy, wickets, as they left shaking their heads in disbelief at the ruins of their shattered stumps, the magician has left the stage abruptly too.

And like the legion of his illustrious victims done in by the “ball of the Century” that sent a bewildered Mike Gatting on his way, or by the one that ‘turned in a mile’ for left-handed Andrew Strauss as he tried to pad it away in vain, beaten by the prodigious turn, he is gone way too soon. 

Indeed, upon hearing the shocking news the “Ball of the Century“ was what countless fans would have turned to, to marvel and wonder at the sheer wizardry of this smiling assassin. And to many other equally well-documented deliveries in the same category which are no less unbelievable in terms of the turn and zip that he generated from otherwise unresponsive wickets tailor-made for the quicks. That is what set him apart as an absolute master of his craft who could ply his trade and work his magic on unsuspecting batsmen, on just about any surface. 

In a glittering international career spanning across 15 years that saw him take 708 Test wickets — the most ever by an Australian, and second only to his equally legendary contemporary, Muttiah Muralitharan, he carved out a niche for himself in the History of the sport, as an All-time Great who would be remembered forever. 

On a crazy day when the Angels XI Up Above acquired a top-class wicket-keeper batsman and a master right arm orthodox leg-spin googly bowler from Australia, both modern-day legends of the sport in their own right, Shane Warne had actually tweeted to express his grief at Rodney Marsh’s passing – he of the “ct Marsh bowled Lillee” fame from half a century ago. That was probably his last communication to the world as the charismatic leg spinner himself hastened away in a shocking twist of fate, to join his childhood hero in the celestial All-Stars side. 

Like Warnie as he was fondly called,  Rod Marsh, the man the media had nicknamed “iron gloves” because of a few balls that bounced out of his gloves on his maiden tour of England back in the 1972 Ashes Series 50 years ago, was a larger- than- life character who always seemed to be having fun in the company of his  iconic ‘best mates,’  Dennis Lillee and Greg Chappell. He is forever immortalised in one of the best remembered cricket photographs of all time, in which he flies fully airborne, parallel to the ground, to pouch Tony Greig one-handed in front Ian Chappell at first slip, off a marauding Gary Gilmour who picked up 6 for 14 in that memorable England Australia 1975 World Cup Semi – Final at Headingley. 

Memories that will remain forever etched in the annals of cricket history, even after the protagonists are long gone. 

And now in a sickening sense of deja vu,  Shane Warne becomes the second Australian TV Commentator in two years, after former teammate Dean Jones, to have fallen victim to a sudden and fatal heart-attack, alone in a foreign land, halfway across the world from home, in a shocking, untimely end that highlights yet again, the fragility and uncertainty of Human Life! 

Rest In Peace Legend, you will be missed!