Product Description

With a flamboyant approach to the game on and off the pitch, Australia's greatest bowler Shane Warne is an irresistible cricketing force. In "Shane Warne's Century", he candidly profiles 100 players from every Test nation who have had the most significant impact on his cricketing life. Warne is famous for having never scoring a Test century, although he came tantalisingly close on several occasions. He now wants to set the record straight by writing about a century of cricketing stars he has encountered during his illustrious career. The famous names featured here include fellow Australian legends Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath, as well as adversaries such as Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jonty Rhodes and Freddie Flintoff. Warne also puts together a dream Test match of those he would have loved to have played alongside versus a team of international legends. Pulling no punches and giving a fascinating insight into the game, Warne serves up highly readable anecdotes and opinions. Throughout the book, Warne covers the serious issues affecting cricket today, such as cheating and match-fixing, and assesses a large number of professional relationships he has enjoyed and endured, including those with Sri Lankan star Arjuna Ranatunga and South African captain Graeme Smith. "Shane Warne's Century" is a genuine page-turner by one of cricket's most popular stars and is a must-read for all cricket fans.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35024 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From the Back Cover
With a flamboyant approach to the game on and off the pitch, Australia’s greatest bowler Shane Warne is an irresistible cricketing force. In Shane Warne’s Century, he candidly profiles 100 players from every Test nation who have had the most significant impact on his cricketing life.

Warne is famous for having never scored a Test century, although he came tantalisingly close on several occasions. He now wants to set the record straight by writing about a century of cricketing stars he has encountered during his illustrious career. The famous names featured here include fellow Australian legends Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath, as well as adversaries such as Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jonty Rhodes and Freddie Flintoff. Warne also puts together a dream Test match between those Australian cricketers he would have loved to have played alongside versus a team of international legends. Pulling no punches and giving a fascinating insight into the game, Warne serves up highly readable anecdotes and opinions.

Throughout the book, Warne opines on the serious issues affecting cricket today, such as cheating, bowling actions, sledging and match-fixing, and assesses a large number of professional relationships he has enjoyed and endured, including those with Sri Lankan star Arjuna Ranatunga and South African captain Graeme Smith.
Shane Warne’s Century is a genuine page-turner by one of cricket’s most popular stars and is a must-read for all cricket fans.


Shane Warne is arguably the greatest leg spin bowler cricket has ever seen. He enjoyed a record-breaking Test career with Australia, leading them to a 5–0 whitewash of England in 2007; a hugely successful period as captain of Hampshire; and before he officially retired he led a team of young hopefuls – the Rajasthan Royals – to win the newly created Indian Premier League in 2008. He is a born winner, whose opinion on cricket matters – not only to the general public but to his fellow players as well. His 2006 Times column about the top 50 Test players of all time broke records for the number of hits on the paper’s website – the public wanted to know his opinion of the players of his era. Now he has retired, he feels the time is right to put his extended thoughts down on paper.

About the Author
Shane Warne was born in 1969 in Victoria, Australia, and played his first Test match in 1992. He retired from the international game in 2007.

Customer Reviews

Warney spins a good yarn

This is not a cricket book for the stat-anoraks (though some Test stats are included) but you'd go a long way to find a more thoughtful, concise insight into what makes great players tick. As one of the true greats himself, Warne is well placed to give a verdict on both opponents and team-mates and he does so in typically forthright fashion. Whatever your view of his occasional on-field altercations the overall feeling as you read this is of a guy who genuinely respects and admires fellow players, who bears no grudges and who is realistic enough to know that you never stop learning. Warne also reveals snippets of his own tactics against individual batsman and for any young spin bowler this is really fascinating stuff. Few readers - if any - will ever aspire to match Warne's skill and technique but assessing a batsman's strengths and weaknesses, and formulating a proper attack plan, is a great weapon even for club players.

This memoir is readable and funny - ideal if you like dipping in and out of books - and I'd recommend it to cricket lovers, even English ones. Funny, but Warney seems so much more likeable now he's not helping win the Ashes.

A must-read for cricket lovers
Even dyed-in-the-wool England fans have learned to love Shane Warne - would the Barmy Army sing `Wish you were English' to any other Aussie? Warne is a man worth listening too, a cricketer blessed with a sharp cricket brain as well as extravagant skills - the best captain Australia never had. In this book he gives an insight into what made (and makes) his great rivals and team-mates tick. So these short essays make fascinating reading; no doubt these observations were in part compiled during a career in which the spinner used every honest means available to win - especially psychological warfare. As Warne admits, list compiling is a purely subjective exercise (Darren Lehmann 30 places higher than Desmond Haynes?) and there's bound to be omissions and ranking that will provoke debate. But this is the sort of book cricket lovers relish; there's plenty of humour and anecdotes galore from a man who is fulsome in his praise of others, even some who were considered bitter enemies. Easily digestible, I recommend this book highly.

Shane Warne's Century This was agift
This was a gift for my son-in-law. He has enjoyed it tremendously. I am always pleased at the efficiency of your delivery. Thanks.