Agencies
Legendary Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne, one of the greatest cricketers of all time, has died of a suspected heart attack aged 52, according to the BBC.
Al Jazeera also confirmed his death on Friday citing his management company.
According to the BBC, Warne took 708 Test wickets, the second most of all time, in 145 matches across a stellar 15-year international career.
He had been found unresponsive in his villa on the Thai island of Koh Samui on Friday, BBC said referring to a statement issued by his management company.
“Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived,” the statement said.
Warne’s associates staying in the same villa tried unsuccessfully to revive him, Thai police said.
According to Al Jazeera, Warne is regarded as one of the finest leg-spin bowlers of all time after a test career which spanned from 1992 to 2007.
His tally of 708 Test wickets has been surpassed only by Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 800.
He also had 293 wickets from 194 one-day internationals and won the man-of-the-match award when Australia beat Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup final.
Warne was also a handy late-order batsman. Though his test average was only 17.3 he took the role seriously and holds the record for the most test runs (3,154) without a century – his highest score being 99.
The wily spinner frequently courted controversy and served a 12-month ban after testing positive for banned diuretics in 2003, Al Jazeera further reported.
His most serious offence came in 2003 when he failed a doping test for a diuretic on the eve of the World Cup and was banned from all cricket for a year – ruling him out of Australia’s defence of the trophy.
He returned from the layoff refreshed and revitalised, and in 2005 took an incredible 96 wickets through the year. His final test was at Sydney in 2007 when he took his 1,000th international wicket in all forms of the game.
