Shane Warne fondly remembered by Australian cricket greats following his death aged 52

Australian cricket greats and former teammates have paid tribute to Shane Warne, following his sudden death in Thailand.

Warne died of a suspected heart attack, aged 52.

He played 145 Tests for Australia, taking 708 wickets at an average of 25.41, and was a member of the 1999 World Cup-winning squad in the ODI arena.

Warne sits second on the all-time Test wicket-takers list, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800).

The Australian men's Test team observed a minute's silence before the start of play on day two of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

The women's ODI team paid their respects prior to their opening World Cup match against England in New Zealand.

Former Australia captain and TV commentator Bill Lawry said Warne stood alongside Don Bradman as the greatest player he had seen.

As fans reel from the news of his death, it is impossible to avoid conjuring images of Shane Warne that are not sombre and serious at all. How could a «Warnie» moment ever be sombre and serious, writes Russell Jackson.

«He and Bradman are head and shoulders above the rest and hopefully there will be another one around the corner,» Lawry told ABC Sport.

«Bradman dominated cricket with the bat … and Shane dominated with the ball.»

Lawry, who covered Warne's international career from the Channel Nine commentary box, said the Victorian took leg-spin to new heights.

«I think his greatest talent was he was a natural genius. We will probably never see a leg-spinner of his quality again,» he said.

«He had a great cricket brain. He wasn't an athlete … you give him a cricket ball and he was so competitive and he just worked the batsmen over.

»He put them under enormous pressure, no matter how good they were."

Another former Australian captain, Ian