Colourful Shane Warne leaves giant legacy

Shane Warne transcended cricket.

Even 15 years after he played the last of his 145 Tests, Australia's greatest bowler was still one of the country's most famous and colourful personalities.

Warne, who died suddenly in Thailand on Friday aged 52, is arguably the second-finest cricketer Australia has ever produced after Sir Donald Bradman.

A larger-than-life character, he captured the public's imagination by making leg-spin bowling one of the coolest things you could do as an Australian kid in the 1990s.

Warne was freakishly good at his craft, but blending it with flair, personality and controversy made him the full package.

Born in Upper Ferntree Gully, an outer suburb of Melbourne, on September 13 1969, Shane Keith Warne was intent on carving out a career as an Australian Rules football player with his beloved St Kilda before cricket "found" him.

His rise to international stardom was rapid and remarkable.

The Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide didn't suit him - he was even sent home on a 44-hour bus trip from a tour in Darwin for "mooning" some hotel guests - so he quit and returned to Victoria.

He played just seven first-class matches before making an inauspicious Test debut against India in January 1992.

Smashed to all parts of the SCG by Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar to finish with unflattering figures of 1-150, Warne went wicketless in his next Test in Adelaide before waiting seven months for another shot.

But when that next opportunity came, he grabbed it and never let go.

In just his third Test match, Warne bowled Australia to a famous victory against Sri Lanka by taking 3-0 in his last 13 balls.

From that moment, there was nothing stopping him conquering cricket and beyond.

His first heroics as an