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 | |  Tuesday, 18 December, 2001, 10:45 GMT The master leggie at his best  Warne is ahead of Wasim Akram on the all-time list BBC Sport Online pays tribute to Australian spin wizard Shane Warne, man of the match in the Adelaide Test win against South Africa. It seems incredible now that Shane Warne's place in the Australian team was ever in doubt. But going into the Ashes series just six months ago the greatest slow bowler of them all was struggling to make the side. Four months later he was celebrating becoming the first spinner to take 400 Test wickets, and on Sunday he passed Wasim Akram to move into fourth on the list of wicket-takers. He finished the Test at the Adelaide Oval, a ground which has not usually been kind to spinners, with a total of eight wickets and a crucial 41 in the first innings to be a deserved man of the match.
Warne, of course, was the man who almost single-handedly revitalised the art of wrist-spin and oversaw a revolution in the use of spin as a strike weapon. Earlier this year, however, many pundits thought he was past his best. A torrid tour of India in March, where he took just 10 wickets at more than 50 apiece had left him under pressure. But Warne knew he could rely on old foes England to bring out his best. Ferntree Gully's most famous export began the Ashes in style taking 5-71 in the first innings of the first Test at Edgbaston and finished it with 11 in the match at The Oval to total 31 for the series.
Warne put his return to form then down to the absence of injury, after being bothered by shoulder and finger trouble for the last few years. In his autobiography, published during the series, he revealed that he had considered retirement after the World Cup in 1999 because of the match-fixing allegations which flew in his direction. And controversy followed when he was stripped of the vice captaincy for off-field indiscretions while playing county cricket for Hampshire the following year. But, with all that apparently behind him, he has been able to just get on with his game. At 32 he is bowling well enough to challenge Courtney Walsh's all-time record of 519 Test wickets.
And if he continues his form against South Africa, he could pass the marks of Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev before this marathon home-and-away series is out. Skipper Steve Waugh heaped praise on his master leg-spinner at Adelaide. "Warne's was a monumental performance," acclaimed Waugh. "He bowled for over three hours today and in the first innings he did a similar thing. "To have that aggression, control and that intensity for such a long period shows what a special bowler he is." Warne became the first Australian leg-spinner since Richie Benaud 40 years ago to take five wickets in an innings at Adelaide. And after the match, he said himself: "If I can bowl like I did in this match hopefully I can cause a few more hassles for the South Africans in the next two Tests. "Especially in Sydney, I've got two 10-fors against them in two Tests there and Melbourne I think I've done pretty well as well." Warne has now taken 72 wickets against South Africa in 13 Tests. | |   Australia's tall tail
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