Warne's magic Melbourne moment

Throughout Warne's incomparable career, it usually has been a matter of when, not if. This was even more so on the big stage and occasion, which he has always relished. This was Boxing Day, his last - an all-star crowd, including Brian Lara, an Ashes Test and an obdurate opponent; Warne could no more resist this moment than he could be resisted.

Shane Warne's 700th Test wicket belongs not only at the very front of the cricket history books but should be placed prominently in a textbook too. Fittingly, it was a classic example of the exquisite and difficult art of legbreak bowling, the revival of which is the priceless legacy he will leave the game when he bows out next week. The master craftsman pitched his stock delivery on a full length just outside left-hander Andrew Strauss's off stump and watched in glee and satisfaction as it spun challengingly but not extravagantly past the bat to strike middle stump.

Unlike the dry, flat tracks served up previously this summer, this was a traditional first-day surface that offered exaggerated sideways movement and made the faster bowlers impossible to combat at times. In regular times, a spinner's role on such a day was to keep his fingers warm and safe lest he was required in the second innings. But Warne never has - and likely never will - been comparable to others in the slow-bowling fraternity. A large part of the legspinner's legendary status in the Test game stems directly from his ability to dominate and succeed when he has no right to.

A green wicket, an icy day, a wet ball and a triumphant leg-spinner ... it embodied the way Shane Warne has changed cricket. It was one of life's sweet coincidences that in taking his 700th wicket Warne gave us all a lesson on what's different about him to those who preceded him and the poor souls who will follow. Yesterday was not a day for legspin. The ball was wet, the air was cold and Warne looked stiff as a post in his first over. But, as is most often the case, he came through it.

Except in the mind of an obdurate batsman, the ball did not perform any unusual manoeuvres, such as loop-the-loop. Instead it contented itself with landing on a length and turning back into the left-hander. Certainly it could have been bowled by another. What possessed an experienced and established batsman to attempt to clip the ball past square leg cannot easily be imagined. It has happened a hundred times before. It is not just about the ball. Warne creates confusion, crowds, tantalises and torments. He is a master of the mind games.