Product Description

Shane Warne was the most glamorous and, arguably the best cricketer in the world for over ten years. He won a generation of followers by showing the fun to be had in bamboozling opponents. From the so-called ‘ball of the century’ that bowled Mike Gatting in 1993, to his single-handed defiance against England in the 2005 Ashes series and his key role in the 2006/7 whitewash. He is an enigma, a showman and a genius, but he is also a very human character with human frailties.

Warne loves the limelight, but the limelight has also burned him. He’s been in trouble over drugs, extra-marital affairs, and taking money from dodgy bookmakers, all of which have soured relations with his family and with his homeland. Ironically he is perhaps more loved by cricket fans in England than in his native Australia.

This fascinating and well-researched biography draws on interviews with Warne and many of his teammates and opponents. On the heels of Warne’s retirement from Test cricket with a record 706 victims to his name, this unique retrospective tells, for the first time, the whole story behind cricket’s most flawed genius.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143278 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review

Praise for Ranji: The Strange Genius of Ranjitsinhji, shortllisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award in 1990

'Outstandingly the best new sports book I have read this year'

(Ian Wooldridge, Daily Mail )

'Diligently researched, Wilde's book brings skeletons rattling out of the cupboard'

(Daily Telegraph )

'Wilde's hitherto unknown revelations are astonishing ... a fascinating book'

(The Times )

'Riveting stuff'

(Sunday Telegraph )

'Simon Wilde has valuably unearthed no end of sly intrigues in his quest of Ranji'

(Guardian )

About the Author

Simon Wilde has been cricket correspondent at The Times and Sunday Times since 1998.  He was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 1999 for his biography of the Indian cricketer Ranjitsinhji.

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Customer Reviews

Wot? No index?
Biographies necessarily stand or fall by the inherent interest of their subjects. Sporting biographies in turn tend to veer between the hagiography and the hatchet job.

Refreshing, therefore, to see a writer prepared to take a balanced but uncompromising look at the conflict between Shane Warne the cricketer and Shane Warne the man.

The book also considers the changes in cricket during Warne's career; the role of the media and of increased TV coverage in particular are analysed with great insight, as are the attendant increasing pressures on players and the growing awareness and importance of sports psychology.

A shame, then, that a publishing house of such standing appears to place little stock by production values; the proof-reading leaves something to be desired and the absence of an index is nigh on unforgivable.

Coupled with the occasionally clumsy expression, these factors prevent this being a five-star book. I await with interest its destiny at the William Hill Sports Book awards.