'Back to my best': When King Warne ruled the Shield

It is a strange thing to consider all these years on, but the first days of 2001 brought with them a sentiment that cricket fans might have already witnessed the last of Shane Warne's devilish brilliance.

A broken spinning finger a couple of months earlier had been the latest addition to Warne's growing injury list, ruling him out of that summer's five-Test whitewash against West Indies and handing Stuart MacGill another chance to shine in his absence.

After having two screws inserted to help repair the fractured dislocation, the master leg-spinner spent two months sidelined before working his way back to action with his club side St Kilda, and then Victoria.

The first state match in his comeback was a one-dayer in Perth against Western Australia on January 2 – the same day Australia's fifth Test versus West Indies began at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

At the WACA Ground, Warne took three wickets, though a report in the Herald-Sun took a rather dim view of his performance, stating that "none of the dismissals were in the 'Gatting-ball' class (as) Simon Katich, Tom Moody and Brendon Julian all tried to belt the leg-spin superstar out of the WACA Ground and succumbed to far-from-deadly balls".

"Warne … had figures of 1-25, including five boundaries, after his first spell of four overs and must have been wondering about the virtues of returning … but the good news came in his second spell of six overs when Warne took 2-23 and did not concede a boundary," the story continued.

"You would think Warne would have taken 3-48 if you had handed it to him at the start of the day, but the nature of the dismissals means the jury is still out. Warne bowled economically enough second time around, but the real zip was missing."

On the other side of the country, MacGill was running through the Windies, claiming seven wickets (including Brian Lara) on day one to put his name up in lights, while 36-year-old seamer-slash-off-spinner Colin Miller was enjoying the finest summer of his belated Test career.

In a press conference after play, Australia captain Steve Waugh was asked about a potential spin-bowling selection dilemma when Warne again became available.

Waugh: "Stuart was brilliant today, and it makes Warnie's job even harder. Shane has got to hit form if he's to give the selectors a tough decision. He's got 366 wickets so that's going to help him, but he's got to get in there and have the form on the board as well. He hasn't played a lot recently so it's given the other guys an opportunity to show what they can do."

MacGill, perhaps buoyed by his success, was even more emphatic.

"It is not just about Shane Warne now," he said. "If I keep bowling like this and don't get picked, I will be very disappointed. This team has shown it does not revolve around one player."

The comments caught the attention of the UK press, many of whom had been tracking Warne's progress with an eye to Australia's return for the 2001 Ashes in the middle of the year; in two previous tours, he had collected 58 wickets at 25.

"The recent statistics favour MacGill strongly," wrote Vic Marks in The Observer. "Warne is a legend, but fading."

Publicly at least, Warne had been typically bullish.

"This injury has been a blessing in disguise," he said in the lead-up to his return. "I've gone back to basics, I've been working on lots of different things and getting my technique right.

"I'd presume that – if I'm 100 per cent right, get through this game well and see how the next couple of weeks pan out – I'll be on the plane to India (for Australia's Test tour).

"If I'm 100 per cent fit, I've still got a lot to offer the Australian team."

Privately however, as he revealed in his 2018 autobiography, No Spin, he was struggling.

Warne: "I'd let the injuries drag me down, both mentally and physically. I'd lost interest in training and put on weight. I'd only played 17 of Australia's 30 Tests between 1998 and 2001. It showed in everything I was doing … and, guess what, I'd lost the 'feel' (in his spin finger) again."

And so Warne entered his first-class comeback match atypically short of self-belief, but with a point to prove, and perhaps even with the words of Waugh ringing in his ears from across the Nullarbor.

"Shane has got to do something exceptional to get into the squad," the Test skipper added. "The other guys are playing well. It is down to Warnie to outdo them."

* * *

True to storied tradition, all 10 Victorian wickets fell to pace on the opening day of their Shield clash with Western Australia at the WACA Ground in Perth on January 4, 2001.

The hosts' decision to play four quicks, including debutant Stuart Karppinen, had quickly paid dividends, with the Vics bowled out for 254 midway through the final session.

"Bowling a team out for 250 at the WACA on day one, you'd take that any day of the week," says Jo Angel, who took 283 first-class wickets at the venue during his legendary WA career.

"But we didn't capitalise with the bat, and it became one of those funny, low-scoring games of cricket."

By stumps WA had moved to a healthy 1-76, though not without Warne foreshadowing what was to come; in the penultimate over of the day, he had Mike Hussey lbw for 35.

Opening the bowling from the Northern End the following morning, Warne quickly went to work, trapping nightwatchman Mark Walsh lbw in his third over of the day to leave WA 2-99.

At the other end for the hosts stood Zimbabwe native Murray Goodwin, who had attended the Australian Cricket Academy in 1992 when Warne had spent time there in the lead-up to that year's tour of Sri Lanka. In the 15 years that followed, right-hander Goodwin batted against Warne 13 times in first-class cricket for WA, Sussex and Zimbabwe, scoring a century and five fifties, and averaging an excellent 47.58.

Just 15 months earlier the pair had come up against one another in a Test match in Harare, with Goodwin the last wicket to fall for the hosts after making a valiant 91.

Goodwin: "My approach against Warnie was to see how much it was turning, first up. I wouldn't be sweeping him if it was straight; it was more sweeping him on line – either outside off or outside leg – but when it was straight, I'd use my feet to try and hit him straight, just to try and mix up his lengths. He had a few different balls so you really had to watch his hand, and then you needed a different strategy when he'd come around the wicket; I'd bat on leg stump because he would target the rough. Then you would have to use your sweep because otherwise he'd just bowl and bowl and bowl, and if you couldn't sweep against him, you were limiting the way you could score. At the WACA, I found I could use my feet a little more because it doesn't turn quite as much. And then I could play off the back foot as well, because of the bounce."

Later in his career, Goodwin utilised the talents of his Sussex teammate, Pakistani leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, whenever he was preparing to face Warne in the County Championship.

Goodwin: "You've got to have a plan for him before you go out there, so in the nets, I would get 'Mushy' to come around the wicket and bowl into the rough, and I would imagine I was playing Warnie. Mushy loved trying to impersonate Warnie, and when he bowled like him he actually turned them more than he normally did, so it was quite good practice for me, and I went on and made runs against Warnie a day or two later. It was nice to be so clear in my processes of how to combat such a great bowler."

At two wickets down, Goodwin was joined by another batter whose recent past had intertwined with Warne's. Simon Katich had made an unbeaten 120 against a Vics team featuring Warne a little over two years earlier, and then, as a part-time left-arm wrist spinner, had benefited from the wisdom of the leggie on his maiden tour with Australia to Sri Lanka in 1999.

Katich: "Right from the word 'go', we got on really well. He gave me a huge amount of advice when it came to bowling leg spin, particularly in Kandy, where he gave me a masterclass on the centre wicket. The things I learned that day were things I never forgot. The way he would drive through the crease with his hips, his action was so strong, and that's what generated the revs on the ball, but also the pace off the wicket. When he showed me how it was done first-hand, I was blown away, because whilst it was quite technical, he made it very easy to understand, and then you could see the end result 22 yards away."

On this second morning, Katich survived just 22 minutes before he was adjudged caught behind by Darren Berry to become Warne's 100th Shield wicket, though the decision was one of several controversial calls through the match.

Katich: "All I did was basically scratch the ground outside off stump with my bat. I didn't get near it, but there was a big appeal and I got given. I do remember Warnie worked the umpires over beautifully. He'd be in their ears, and I'm not meaning it in a bad way; he did it in a skilful way – he'd explain to them what he was trying to set the batsman up with before he bowled the next ball: 'This is gonna be the next one, this one's gonna drift in and skid on a bit'. He was remarkable. He was an entertainer and I reckon the umpires loved being involved with that as well. So he got a few, for sure, but he did bowl beautifully."

Katich's wicket triggered a middle-order collapse of 6-71, during which Goodwin was run-out for 59 and Vics seamers Mick Lewis, Ian Harvey and Paul Reiffel all chipped in with wickets, while Warne worked his way through an 11-over morning spell of 2-33.

At 8-189, Angel came to the middle. The towering left-hander had been employed as a nightwatchman for WA over the years owing to his sound technique, and against the spinners, his long reach allowed him to meet the ball down the wicket. But Warne was a different beast.

Angel: "He was a brilliant bowler, good enough to execute every plan he put in place, and he knew how to play those little mind games that are just as much a part of the battle as bat and ball. I always thought myself a reasonable player of spin because I was quite a good sweeper of the ball, but I found him very hard to sweep … because he had such good control of length and line. I always felt like I had to be very careful. So I'd just try and play the ball, and not get caught up playing the man. Try and play straight, and still try to bat with intent, because if he sees you're just defending, you're like a lamb to the slaughter. But it was hard to do, because he never gave you anything."

Angel only made nine but managed to hang around with stylish young left-hander Marcus North for 48 minutes, with the pair adding 36 runs for the ninth wicket. North's 54 was the only other meaningful contribution for WA, with the 21-year-old even earning applause from Warne when he hit him over midwicket for six to bring up his 50. A ball later however, the leg-spinner had his man, as North flashed at a quicker one outside off stump and was well caught by Harvey at first slip.

The wicket ended WA's innings at 235, with Warne's 4-53 from 15.5 overs the star turn. That night, the Sun-Herald report was much more favourable than it had been after the one-day clash a couple of days prior.

"Warne … bowled cleverly despite an unresponsive WACA pitch," it read. "The spring in the step was back. You sensed he thought he was going to claim a wicket with every ball. It infected a Victorian team that was in need of a lift after a wasted first day."

* * *

At stumps on day two, Victoria were 3-146 and boasting a lead of 165 in a match that was moving quickly. Despite prolific pair Matthew Elliott (30) and Brad Hodge (0) being back in the pavilion, the visitors were in the box seat, particularly with Warne in their ranks. Even at the pace-friendly WACA Ground, he was an ace up the sleeve, and as Vics opener Matthew Mott recalls, a welcome presence in the group.

Mott: "Warnie loved playing for Victoria. It was almost a novelty for him because he'd played so much for Australia that he never really got as many opportunities to play for the Vics as he would have liked. I always felt like he loved being around the group, he was very close to Ian Harvey, 'Chuck' (Darren) Berry, and he would come back and add plenty of energy. In those days he was box office … there was definitely a different buzz around the changeroom when he was there. I played half a dozen games with him and every one was special. Whether it was Russell Crowe coming into our changerooms just after Gladiator because Warnie was there, there was always something exciting going on. I do remember one of the funnier times with him, we were struggling at the SCG against a very strong NSW and he started playing Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down' in the dressing room. He's up in his undies, going, 'Come on boys!' He did have a lot of passion for Victoria."

From the first ball of the third morning, Victoria lost Jason Arnberger for 63, and suddenly the match was precariously balanced as the not out Clinton Peake was joined in the middle by Harvey.

Peake had dwelt on the fringes of the state side for a handful of years, though potentially his best seasons had been cruelled by glandular fever and then chronic fatigue syndrome, a situation he remembers bringing out the best in Warne.

Peake: "My first little stint of playing first-class cricket coincided with me being as sick as I've been in my life. I was about 21, still living at home with my parents, and struggling to do anything much at all – I'd finished up in Geelong Seconds – and Shane actually rang me from India. My mum's said, 'Clint, I can't quite make out who's on the phone, I think he said his name was Shane'. He called me 'Angus', as in Angus Young (from AC/DC), because when I first started, I was basically coming in to training in school uniform. He just checked in to see how I was. He was a man's man but he had that care, and it didn't really matter whether you were making runs or getting picked – if he liked you, he liked you, and he was interested in how you were getting on. I thought that was unbelievably impressive."

The left-hander, who was playing the last of his nine first-class matches, was another who felt Warne's inclusion was a positive for the Victorian dynamic.

Peake: "I found Shane and Damien Fleming were excellent at making people feel welcome, but a few of the others really weren't. Essentially (Warne) would make people feel good, and the main thing with him was he was just everyone's mate. So after a day's play, if he was hungry and getting pizza he'd order 12 of them because he wouldn't want anyone to miss out. He was inclusive – you were never outside the circle. If he was around, he'd cast such a big shadow that everyone was in it. So I thought with Shane around – rather than some of the Victorian setup giving the impression that they hoped you'd fail – it was a bit less toxic."

Peake's exit for 33 came amid a steady stream of Victorian wickets, as the hosts fought their way back into the contest. After hitting three of his first six balls for four, Warne was run-out for 12 as the final seven wickets fell for 93.

It left Western Australia needing 259 to win, and they lost their first wicket early, Goodwin picking out Peake at point off Reiffel to depart for one with the score at eight.

The wicket saw Katich join Hussey in the middle, and the two left-handers navigated some hostile new-ball bowling to take the score to 78 before Hussey was caught behind off Lewis for 42.

The left-handers had played Warne sensibly, milking him for 29 from eight overs before the tea break.

Katich: "(Facing Warne) at the WACA, there's a fair bit in your favour, because it isn't a huge spinning wicket. The Fremantle Doctor was always a factor, because he'd bowl from the Inverarity Stand End, so he'd be into the breeze and he'd get good drift. And then for lefties, he'd always come around the wicket and aim into the rough. So I was always trying to play with the spin, and then I'd try to use my feet. If I felt like I could get to him, I'd try and nullify the spin and hit to mid-on or midwicket, with the spin. I loved the challenge of it. He was the best in the world, so as a young player it was good to see how you'd go against him. I'd played County cricket against him in 2000 when he went to Hampshire and I was at Durham. He possibly won a few battles over there, but in Perth, there were definitely more things in my favour than his."

Katich was met in the middle by Damien Martyn, who in the 12 months prior had been recalled to the Test side after a six-year absence. The gifted right-hander was working his way towards a regular spot in the Test middle-order and approaching the peak of his powers; in the next 14 months, he would hit five hundreds in 12 Tests while averaging 76.

Mott: "Damien Martyn was always a pleasure to watch even though he was in the opposition. His skills were so silky and at that stage he was a phenomenal player. He was a good player of spin as well. But getting the best players out was Warnie's hallmark. Sure, he had a point to prove as well, but Warnie always had a point to prove."

In the space of five balls, Warne turned the contest on its head. The first of those, which he later revealed to be a new delivery he had dubbed the 'straight-on-er', trapped Martyn lbw for eight, and four balls later he had North caught at short leg without scoring. Vics paceman Mathew Inness remembers Warne circling, tail up, as he began to bend the contest to his will.

Inness: "I was at mid-on or mid-off when he was bowling, so I had a pretty good view, and I remember the way he started working the batsmen over. He was talking to me during overs, telling me what his plan was – the way he was using the line he was bowling, and his flight, to drag them across the crease and then set them up for a bowled or lbw. It was fascinating to hear his plan, and then actually watch it unfold."

Mott: "He had the ability to get inside the batter's head, a lot of the time without offending them at all. It was just a game of cat and mouse. He'd talk through what he was gonna do. I think we all saw that famous bit of commentary that he did with Brendon McCullum (in the Big Bash), but he'd play that out quite often, like: 'I'm gonna do this, I'm going to give you this, and then you're going to try this'. It was a cheeky bit of gamesmanship based on extreme skill. It was great to watch from bat pad – you always felt like, even if the batter got a couple of way, it was only a matter of time before you'd get an opportunity."

Peake: "(Fielding around the bat to Warne) you just felt so safe. Usually, when you're at short leg, you're scared they'll bowl a half tracker, and the batter's going to smash it into you. Whereas Shane was just so accurate that you were on the balls of your feet, you're creeping forward, you're sort of visualising almost indoor cricket style, catching it on the pitch. You're not fearing broken ribs."

Katich meanwhile, had cruised to 72 from 100 balls and after Lewis accounted for Moody (1), he stood as WA's last out-and-out batter, and pivotal to the fate of the match. From his 101st delivery however, he erred.

Katich: "I prided myself on picking leggies, having bowled them myself, and I remember seeing it – it was a wrong'un from around the wicket – but I just didn't execute the shot well; I tried to whack him, and hit it straight to cover. I remember him saying a few things (through the innings), but there was no sledging or anything like that. He was just trying to see if he could get in my mind around what shots were on, and where his field was. It was good gamesmanship, and I loved that. He was a master at it. That was part of his persona, to make it into more than just the ball coming at you from the other end – it was also the character involved."

Mott: "Simon Katich had the game pretty much under control. He'd given Victoria some hard times, he was a really determined player and he'd got them out of some sticky situations against us a few times. I remember how hard we celebrated his wicket, knowing if he was in there at the end, they were going to win the game. It was an uncharacteristic shot for him. He might have been baited a little bit by Warnie and Darren Berry. I remember (Katich) getting that face of thunder that he gets, and he strode off and might've even pushed through 'Chuck' on his way as well. It was quite an emotional game, because it was seemingly just a foregone conclusion and then Warnie just started taking wickets out of nowhere."

From 2-108, Western Australia had slid to 6-133 and the target of 259 now seemed distant. Warne had taken out Martyn, North and Katich inside four overs.

Mott: "Once he got the ascendancy, you didn't feel there was any way back for the opposition because he'd just keep growing and growing, getting more and more confident, trying different things. You felt that as a team. He got Katich and from there he went almost into a frenzy, and that got people around him up and about as well. He'd push other people to really believe."

Goodwin: "He was always the one to say, 'Look, give me the ball, I will create the wicket'. He always backed himself. Then once he got on a roll, as an opponent in the changerooms, you're thinking: Oh geez, this guy's bowling really well here, how am I going to combat this? His cricket brain was brilliant. If nothing was happening, he would change the field, and try and create an atmosphere that something was happening. He was just smart. A lot of teams, when nothing's happening, they just drift along, going through the motions. Warnie wasn't that guy."

When Reiffel had wicketkeeper Walsh caught by Mott for five, WA's tail was charged with the task of cobbling together the required 101 runs. First among those was debutant Karppinen, who joined Julian in the middle with some advice from Martyn front of mind.

Karppinen: "I'd played a fair bit of club cricket with Damien Martyn, and batted with him quite a lot, and he was really good for me against Warne. He alerted me to what sort of game plan he thought he would try and implement, and he did, but it's one thing to know it and it's another thing to actually play it. It panned out pretty much as he suggested; he said he'd try and spin it really big in those first four or five deliveries to me, but after that he'd just try and attack the stumps. And that's pretty much what he did – he just terrorised my front pad. I ended up facing quite a few overs off him in a row, just battling away for half an hour, and the subtleties were amazing. All the balls drifted in through the air, but the really discreet differences in the way they came off the pitch were beyond my batting capabilities. Trying to see the difference between the one that skidded on, or a top-spinner or a straighter one, for me they all looked the same out of the hand."

The fall of Julian for 19 brought Angel to the middle, and second time around, he lasted just seven balls before he became Warne's fourth victim of the innings.

Angel: "He liked to play the mind games – nothing over the top – something like (to teammates): 'Oh remember, we've got him out this way before'. He was very good at picking his mark ... very, very clever at knowing which way to go about it, whether it would be directly at the player or whether he would talk around him. That's part of the art of learning to play the game, and he understood how to use those little mind games to try and get a small advantage."

From the very next ball, Karppinen was the last wicket to fall, having made 17 from 39 balls. He remembers Warne saying precisely zero to him throughout their half-hour battle.

Karppinen: "I know I'm being self-deprecating, but he didn't really need to say anything to me. I was getting plenty of advice along the way on how to bat from some mates of mine in Jason Arnberger and Matthew Mott on either side of the wicket, and Darren Berry was never short of providing advice, either. So he didn't need to say a single thing."

Through a chaotic afternoon, WA had lost 8-73 to lose by 77 runs. Warne had entered the fray as second change, bowled 20 overs, and taken 5-49 to finish with match figures of 9-102.

Mott: "He'd just singlehandedly won us a game that we shouldn't have won. Afterward, we went to a pub, and I remember him making sure that we celebrated well, but didn't get out of control. Warnie had the reputation of liking a party but he just celebrated in a way where he wanted to keep everyone together, and really enjoy that win. There was some stat when I first went to Victoria, they'd won something like four away games in three years, so it was a significant win in terms of winning away from home, and particularly in Perth."

While Warne's comeback performance had spoken for itself, the 31-year-old happily rammed home the point in a post-match press conference, declaring he was "back to my best".

Warne: "I feel like I'm on the verge of getting back to the golden years. I haven't had a bowl in match conditions for a while, so to get through this game and bowl really well, I was very happy. I was very encouraged with the way the ball came out, especially in Perth on a pretty grassy, flat wicket which didn't offer too much turn. I ended up getting a few to whiz through … If I bowl like the way I have over this week here, then the future is going to hold some good things."

Warne was right. In the next six years he played another 61 Tests, capturing 342 wickets at 24.82. His strike-rate of 50.1 through that period compared very favourably with his first 84 Tests (64.2), while the best of Warne in England was also still to be seen; in 2001 and 2005 combined, he claimed 71 wickets in 10 matches at 19.39.

Mott: "He thrived on adversity, and people writing him off. I think he loved the fact that on the outside he was copping a bit of grief and people doubted him, because it gave him an opportunity to prove people wrong."

Peake: "I think the best part of his legacy is that he really understood fame. He understood his aura. He cultivated it to a certain degree, but he owned it. I reckon there were 25 million people in Australia who felt some connection with Shane."