Leg spin expert Mark McInnes explains what made Shane Warne one of a kind

In Shane Warne's first autobiography, published in 2001, there's a chapter entitled «The Art of Leg Spin.»

After many paragraphs thanking all those who helped him with his cricket career — from his wife Simone to Pakistani spinner Abdul Qadir — Warne suddenly takes you into his own mind to explain what he's thinking in the middle of a match.

Suddenly, you're right there with him, as he gets ready to bowl another jaffa.

«I generally decide what to bowl as I walk back to my mark after the previous ball, then pause to be absolutely clear in my mind,» he writes.

«If I am not sure, the pause is a bit longer than usual.

»Once my mind is clear and I start to walk in, there is no time for a change of plan. Leg-spin bowlers start to get into trouble if they have second thoughts."

It's simple stuff, yet shows the sort of decisive confidence we came to love as Warne spun his way to the second-highest tally of wickets in Test cricket history.

One man who knows what it takes to be a successful leg spinner is Mark McInnes.

The Sydney-based spin coach has helped more than 100 leg-spinners since he started coaching spin full-time in 2007.

A former leg spinner himself, McInnes learned his skills at the Cricket Academy in Adelaide in the late 1990s, before working with former Test players Terry Jenner and Kerry O'Keefe.

He now passes on that knowledge to some of the best young spin talent in New South Wales.

«I was at a coaching lecture, 10 years ago I think, and they were talking about what Cricket Australia wanted from spinners,» McInnes says.

«It was resilience, bravery, courage, competitiveness, desire — they just basically listed all of Warne's attributes.»

As fans reel from the news of his death, it is impossible to avoid conjuring images of