Warne ready to walk away

Shane Warne, the most successful bowler in Test history, is expected to announce today that he will retire after the final match of the Ashes series in Sydney.

Apart from his world-record 699 wickets, the skill that has surged Australia to the top of the world in Tests and ODIs, and his personality that makes him almost compulsory viewing, he has revived an art that was dying when he first started to bowl. Australia's previous big-name legspinner was Richie Benaud, who retired in the 1960s, but Warne turned history on its head.

He started by receiving a thrashing in 1991-92, but he recovered and seemed to peak during the prolific years of 1993 (72 wickets) and 1994 (70), when his mesmerising powers quickly made him a global figure. Back then his nickname was Hollywood and he claimed his life was a soap opera. The show will not stop despite his expected decision in Melbourne to walk away.

Amazingly, Warne was not only able to maintain his danger through career-threatening finger and shoulder injuries and a 12-month drug ban, but he was able to increase it. In 1996 he had a serious operation on his finger, the shoulder surgery in 1998 was supposed to finish him and the rest forced in 2003 by a diuretic he took to lose weight was expected to send him into the commentary box for life. Each time he came back stronger, wilier and wildly successful.

In the past three calendar years he has 208 wickets, including a record 96 in 2005, and has ruined a new generation of aggressive batsmen. He did it mostly with his legspinners, topspinners and a fast-bowler's attitude. The feared flipper, the "mystery ball" of the 1990s which did more to unnerve batsmen than any of his other qualities, was never as skiddy after the finger and shoulder operations. Instead he used variations - he could deliver five or six legspinners - and mentally tested batsmen with his accuracy, stamina and histrionics. It has been a breathtaking mix.

Over the past two Tests he has floored England in the second innings and re-captured the Ashes that his team-mates lost in 2005. With a double of 40 wickets and 249 runs, Warne did not deserve to be in the defeated side. On the field he was magnificent, but off it he was a mess, crying in his room at the break-up of his marriage. The indiscretions were as much part of Warne as his total control whenever he entered a cricket ground. It is an incredible contradiction.

Warne was born in Melbourne on September 13, 1969 and wanted a career as an Australian rules footballer. Fortunately he failed and his sharp sporting mind and huge wrists concentrated on cricket. He made his debut for Victoria in 1991 and his first two overs went for 20. Later that year he was drinking with his mates at the MCG not knowing that in a week he would be appearing in his first Test. He had played only four first-class games for his state and the step up was a shock.

The following summer he toured Sri Lanka, taking 3 for 11, to win a lost Test and rattled West Indies with 7 for 52 on his home ground to start a magical, eventful, controversial and never-to-be repeated ride. He passed Dennis Lillee's Australian record of 355 in New Zealand in 2000 and took the world mark four years later in India. His best figures of 8 for 71 came against England at the Gabba in 1994-95 and he holds an unwanted record of having the most runs (3043) without scoring a century.

After 143 Tests he is one away from taking his 700th victim on his home ground at the MCG from Boxing Day. In two Tests he will almost certainly be gone and Australia will have lost its second greatest player.