Rarely, if ever, does a cricketer transcend the game.
Sure, there are those like Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins who can inspire the next generation with their exploits on the field.
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But you never see them plastered the front pages of a newspaper for any off-field indiscretions.
Yet there was only one cricketer who was equally well-known for what he did on and off the cricket pitch: Shane Warne.
Warne was renowned for his freakish ability to spin a ball and bamboozle every batsman he faced.
But he was also a constant presence in gossip columns, with rumours regarding various romances running rife in both Australian and English tabloids.
Amid his string of fleeting romances, Warne’s most high-profile relationship was undeniably his three-year romance with English actress and model Elizabeth Hurley.
The pair first met in 2010 at the Royal Ascot Racecourse, although at the time Hurley was still married to businessman Arun Nayar while Warne attempted to rekindle his relationship with ex-wife Simone Callahan.
Warne and Hurley went on to exchange rather flirtatious tweets to one another in late 2010, with the latter cheekily requesting a picture of the Australian in his underwear.
Warne wrote: “Playing with Michael Vaughan today, want a pic on the first tee? Won’t show my lucky spinners underwear I have on though!!!”
Hurley replied: “Don’t be a spoilsport – give all your lady followers a treat. Snigger.”
They became an item once they had fully separated from their respective partners and became engaged in October 2011 when Warne proposed to Hurley in the Mediterranean.
Warne and Hurley’s romance continued to move at a rapid pace as the pair bought a mansion near Ledbury in 2012.
However, they called off their engagement in December 2013 to bring an end to arguably the most high-profile romance featuring a cricketer.
Although they had split, Warne and Hurley remained friends over the coming years.
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During their time together, Hurley made an effort to make Warne switch up his infamous dietary habits.
In an interview with The Times in 2015, Warne revealed he did not eat any vegetables from age 13 to 30.
“You know foodies? I am the opposite of a foodie,” Warne said.
Hurley did manage to get Warne to introduce green beans into his diet, but that was as good as it got.
Warne’s diet was, well, rather unexpansive.
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“I like hot chips, pasta, pizza, white-bread cheese sandwiches and apples – everything else I can take or leave, mainly leave,” Warne wrote in his 2018 autobiography, ‘No Spin’.
“I do like ribs and roast pork too”.
Warne also believed ‘sitting in a restaurant is a waste of time, the same as cooking’ and felt ‘food gets in the way of a good time’.
One rather unique meal Warne was a major advocate for was his lasagne sandwiches, where he’d stuff lasagne between two bread rolls lathered in butter.
Warne was also the subject of further culinary intrigue when, during Australia’s 1998 tour of India, six tonnes of spaghetti and baked beans arrived addressed to him.
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Unsurprisingly, it sparked rumours Warne lived on nothing but baked beans and spaghetti during the India tour.
But the spin king later debunked the story on social media as he revealed the entire team saw then-coach Geoff Marsh have baked beans and spaghetti for breakfast.
“And we sat there after having the spicy stuff for so long in India, and we thought how good will some spaghetti and baked beans be on toast,” Warne said.
“So we said to Geoff Marsh, ‘We still have three weeks to go, is it possible to get some of these?’ So the next day he spoke to Cricket Australia and told us, ‘They’ve organised it and they should be here in a couple of days.'”
Warne and his teammates arrived at the dock where the crates of spaghetti and baked beans had arrived, only to find his name was adorned on the crates.
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“There were a lot of other players who wanted the spaghetti and beans but it was just addressed to me,” Warne said.
“So we all helped ourselves to a few tins and we gave away the rest to all the people in India.”
Questionable dietary choices and his glamorous relationship with a model aside, Warne achieved his levels of notoriety through his remarkable talent with a cricket ball.
In 2000, was named by Wisden as one of the five cricketers of the century alongside Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards and Jack Hobbs.
Of that five, Warne was the only specialist bowler named, such was his standing in the game.
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Warne took over 1,000 international wickets for Australia thanks to his ripping leg spinners, with 708 coming in the Test arena.
No wicket was more memorable than his first-ever one against England in 1993.
It was Warne’s first Ashes series as Australia and England began the series at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Warne, just 23 at the time, was brought on by then-captain Allan Border to roll the arm over as Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting looked to build up a partnership.
However, Gatting had little idea he was about to be on the wrong side of history.
Warne’s delivery pitched outside his leg stump, only to viciously spin back past Gatting’s outstretched bat and towards the stumps.
Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy had his arms outstretched while Gatting could only look at the pitch in front of him in disbelief after Warne’s ball sent the bails flying.
Warne’s first Ashes wicket was later declared the ‘ball of the century’ as Australia went on to win the first Test and subsequently the series 4-1.
He would go on to take a total of 227 wickets in all formats against England.
Warne would retire from international cricket in 2007 and all forms of the game in 2013 as he began his career as a commentator for Nine and Fox Cricket in Australia as well as Sky Sports in England.
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Sadly the world lost his legendary insights in March 2022 when Warne died aged 52 while on holiday with friends in Ko Samui, Thailand.
The cricket legend suffered a heart attack and was unable to be revived by medical staff as tributes from his former teammates and celebrities poured in.
Warne was awarded a state memorial service at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as 55,000 fans paid their respects.
With all that Warne achieved in his life, it is a near-impossible task to distil it into words.
But Warne managed to do just that: “I liked loud music, I smoked, I drank and I bowled a bit of leg spin. I don’t have any regrets.”
