Hussain: Warne the greatest to ever play

Sky Sports Cricket's Nasser Hussain hails Shane Warne as 'the greatest cricketer to ever play the game', following the passing of the Australian spin-bowling great on Friday.

For me, he was arguably the greatest cricketer to ever play the game.

The game is about entertaining people and there was never a dull moment when Shane Warne had the ball in his hand. He was absolutely genius.

Leg spin was a dying art before he burst onto the scene; we had never heard of a 'flipper', and then suddenly he used to set us up with it. He'd bowl us a ball that was short and you'd think 'ah, Shane has lost it today', and then the very next ball was the flipper and it was through us. He was an outstanding cricketer.

When Australia really needed him in that 2005 Ashes series, when England were all over them and they were crumbling, there was one Aussie that stood up and said 'not today'. He got wickets by the shed load, he got runs by the shed load too and he showed a lot of fight and a lot of character.

Some people are brilliant at the game, some people are genius, some people have fight. Shane Warne had everything in abundance.

He was also a very, very smart cricketer as we've seen in the commentary box since he retired from the game.

He was unique, very professional. You'd think he'd turn up half an hour late and say 'I'm Shane Warne, I turn up when I want'.

If you told him to be there at 10am for a Sky Sports News cross, he would be there at 10am. If you told him what he should be wearing, he'd be ringing up the director checking three times what am I supposed to be wearing.

We did a famous masterclass at Durham a long time ago, and he would be in there preparing meticulously. In fact, before we went live, he was all over the place