Was privilege, pleasure to play alongside you: Steve Waugh condoles Warne’s demise

It is no secret that Warne and Steve Waugh did not get along, and the spinner in his autobiography titled ‘No Spin’ had talked about how he felt let down by Steve, who was the then Australia skipper.

“Too many memories and moments that will never be forgotten. It was a privilege and a pleasure to play alongside you. My thoughts and condolences are with the Warne family. R.I.P. Warnie,” Waugh wrote on Instagram.

Former Australia opening batter Mark Waugh also took to Twitter to condole the demise of Warne.

“This just unfathomable to lose another great of our cricket family. Warnie was the ultimate entertainer on and off the field, never a dull moment who lived life to the fullest. Deepest condolences to his loved ones. RIP mate,” tweeted Mark Waugh.

Warne was one of the most influential cricketers in history. He almost single-handedly reinvented the art of leg-spin when he burst onto the international scene in the early 1990s, and by the time he retired from international cricket in 2007, he had become the first bowler to reach 700 Test wickets.

A central figure in Australia’s ICC Cricket World Cup triumph in 1999, when he was player of the match in both the semi-final and the final, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack recognised Shane’s achievements by naming him as one of its Five Cricketers of the Twentieth Century.

Shane finished his international career with 708 Test wickets and a further 293 in One-Day Internationals, placing him second in the list of all-time international wicket-takers behind his great friend and rival Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (1,347). Shane also captained Australia in 11 One-Day Internationals, winning 10 and losing just once.