The King of Spin whose Ball of the Century, bookie payments, and various off-field scandals made him one of cricket's most colorful characters.
43 incidents documented
BCCI / ICC / England Cricket / Cricket Australia
2024
The 2024 cricket calendar brought the IPL-versus-Test-cricket scheduling conflict to its most acute point yet, with multiple Test series rescheduled, players choosing IPL contracts over international availability, and administrators openly questioning whether Test cricket could survive as a commercially viable format.
Australia vs India
9 June 2023
Travis Head and Mohammed Siraj had a heated exchange during the WTC Final at The Oval, with aggressive celebrations and verbal jousting.
Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab
25 March 2019
R. Ashwin controversially ran out Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end by removing the bails before delivering the ball.
England vs Australia
2019-08-01
James Anderson's specific plan to dismiss David Warner in the 2019 Ashes — targeting his front-pad movement with late inswing and full-pitched deliveries that trapped him LBW or bowled repeatedly — produced Warner's worst Ashes series statistically (95 runs in 10 innings) and Anderson's greatest personal triumph.
Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals
25 March 2019
Ravichandran Ashwin ran out Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end in an IPL match, reigniting the centuries-old Mankading debate about the spirit of cricket vs the laws of the game.
Australia vs South Africa
24 March 2018
David Warner had to be physically restrained after charging at Quinton de Kock in a staircase at Kingsmead, reportedly after de Kock made comments about Warner's wife Candice.
Australia vs South Africa
3 March 2018
The Warner-de Kock feud set the toxic tone for the entire 2018 Australia-South Africa series that culminated in the Sandpapergate scandal.
South Africa vs Australia
2018-03-01
Kagiso Rabada's dismissal of David Warner during South Africa's 2018 home series — followed by a shoulder bump that earned Rabada a suspension — and the overall tension between the two teams that contributed to the Sandpaper Gate atmosphere of the tour.
Australia vs South Africa
24 March 2018
Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the third Test at Cape Town, in a plan hatched by David Warner and known to captain Steve Smith, leading to unprecedented bans.
Various
2018-12-30
Shane Warne's commentary career was filled with entertaining moments, from his obsessive pizza ordering to his often wildly wrong predictions and enthusiastic analysis.
Australia vs South Africa
24 March 2018
Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the Cape Town Test, leading to bans for Bancroft, captain Steve Smith, and vice-captain David Warner in the most damaging scandal in Australian cricket history.
ICC vs Ball Maintenance
2018-03-24
The Sandpaper Gate scandal — where Australia used sandpaper to illegally alter the ball in Cape Town — triggered the most significant tightening of ball-tampering laws in cricket history, including dramatically increased suspensions and a formal distinction between accidental and premeditated tampering.
West Indies vs England
2016-04-03
After Carlos Brathwaite hit four sixes to win the T20 World Cup Final, Marlon Samuels celebrated by draping himself in a blanket-like flag and sitting in a chair with his feet up.
England vs Sri Lanka
3 June 2014
Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake ran out Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end during an ODI, making Buttler a repeat victim of the controversial dismissal.
Australia vs England
12 June 2013
David Warner punched Joe Root in a bar altercation during the Champions Trophy, leading to a suspension that set the tone for a hostile 2013 Ashes series.
England vs Australia
July-August 2013
The Hot Spot infrared technology was shown to be unreliable during the 2013 Ashes, failing to detect clear edges and undermining confidence in DRS.
Australia vs England (off-field)
13 June 2013
David Warner punched Joe Root in the face at a bar in Birmingham during the ICC Champions Trophy, leading to Warner's suspension.
Australia vs England
2007-01-05
Australia whitewashed England 5-0 in the 2006-07 Ashes — revenge for England's 2005 series win — with every Test won by a margin of over 200 runs, confirming Ponting's side as the dominant Test team of the decade.
Australia vs England
2007-01-05
Shane Warne played his final Test at the SCG in January 2007 — retiring with 708 wickets, the world record at the time (later broken by Muralitharan), after completing the 5-0 Ashes whitewash. His final wicket: Andrew Flintoff, caught at slip.
Australia vs South Africa
2006-11-05
Brett Lee's pace and Warne's spin working in tandem against Graeme Smith during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy produced one of the great bowling partnerships targeting a specific batsman — Lee softening Smith with pace before Warne introduced himself with attacking left-arm variations.
England vs Australia
4 August 2005
During his famous 68 in England's second innings at Edgbaston in 2005, Andrew Flintoff survived LBW appeals that replays suggested were out. England won by just 2 runs — the narrowest possible margin — making every reprieve Flintoff received potentially match-deciding.
England vs Australia
2005-08-04
Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen's personal duel during the 2005 Ashes — culminating in Pietersen's extraordinary 158 at The Oval against Warne and Australia's best bowling — defined both the series and a remarkable personal rivalry that lasted for years.
England vs Australia
2005-09-12
Kevin Pietersen made 158 in his first Ashes Test appearance at The Oval — including sixes off Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath — to help England draw the final Test and win their first Ashes since 1987.
England vs Australia
2005-08-07
England beat Australia by 2 runs at Edgbaston in 2005 — the narrowest Ashes victory in history, a match that swung multiple times across four days, and is widely voted the greatest Test match ever played.
England vs Australia
2005-09-12
Andrew Flintoff made 402 runs and took 24 wickets in the 2005 Ashes — joint Man of the Series with Shane Warne — in a sustained all-round performance that defined the series and England's first Ashes win in 18 years.
Australia
11 February 2003
Shane Warne was sent home from the 2003 World Cup after testing positive for a banned diuretic, receiving a one-year ban from cricket.
Zimbabwe vs Australia
5 June 2001
Shane Warne was left seething after Zimbabwe's Dougie Marillier repeatedly scooped him over the keeper's head for boundaries, winning the match for Zimbabwe.
India vs Australia
2001-03-14
Following on 274 runs behind, India were on the brink of a historic innings defeat. VVS Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) added 376 for the 5th wicket to set Australia 384 to win — and Anil Kumble bowled them out for 212, completing the most miraculous comeback in Test history.
India vs Australia
2001-03-11
Harbhajan Singh took India's first Test hat-trick in 67 years — dismissing Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Shane Warne in the first innings — sparking India's comeback from following on that ultimately won the Test and the series.
Pakistan vs Various
23 May 2000
Pakistani batsman Saleem Malik became the first international cricketer to be banned for life for match fixing, after Justice Qayyum's inquiry found him guilty of offering bribes to Australian players.
Australia vs various
2000-10-29
Between October 1999 and March 2001, Australia won 16 consecutive Test matches — a record that has never been equalled in Test cricket history, representing the most dominant period of Test cricket ever seen by a single team.
India vs Australia
22 April 1998
In the first of the two Sharjah finals, Sachin Tendulkar was given out LBW to a ball that appeared to be heading down leg. The decision denied fans a potentially historic innings.
India vs Australia
1998-02-28
Shane Warne's admission that Sachin Tendulkar occupied his thoughts 'even in his dreams' before the 1998 India series epitomised one of cricket's great personal duels — a rivalry that Tendulkar spectacularly resolved by mastering Warne through meticulous preparation.
India vs Australia
1998-04-22
In the space of three days, Sachin Tendulkar hit two centuries against Australia in Sharjah — one in a qualifying match against a desert sandstorm, one in the final — comprehensively destroying Shane Warne's aura and cementing his status as the world's greatest batsman.
India vs Australia
1998-01-24
The 1998 India-Australia Test series produced the greatest sustained individual duel in cricket history — Sachin Tendulkar vs Shane Warne — with Tendulkar making 446 runs in the three-Test series, including 155 not out and 177, dominating the world's greatest bowler on his home grounds.
Australia vs Various
9 December 1998
Australian stars Shane Warne and Mark Waugh admitted to accepting money from an Indian bookmaker known as 'John' in exchange for pitch and weather information during the 1994 tour to Sri Lanka.
South Africa vs Australia
March 1994
Shane Warne dismissed Daryll Cullinan 8 times in 9 Test innings over several years, breaking the South African batsman's confidence so completely that Cullinan reportedly sought professional psychological help. Their exchanges — including Warne announcing which ball he was about to bowl and still getting Cullinan out — became cricket's most famous case of mental disintegration.
England vs Australia
4 June 1993
While not a controversial decision itself, Mike Gatting's utter disbelief at being bowled by Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket highlighted how umpires and batsmen alike were unprepared for extreme spin.
England vs Australia
1993-06-04
Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket spun so viciously from outside leg stump to hit off stump that Mike Gatting's bewildered expression became one of cricket's most iconic images.
England vs Australia
1993-06-04
Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket pitched outside leg stump and spun 18 inches to hit the top of Mike Gatting's off stump — the most famous single delivery in cricket history, announcing to the world that leg-spin was not dead.
West Indies vs Pakistan
1987-11-01
Courtney Walsh refused to run out Pakistan's non-striker Saleem Jaffar who was backing up too far, costing West Indies a World Cup spot in one of cricket's greatest acts of sportsmanship.
Australia vs India
13-17 December 1947
Vinoo Mankad ran out Bill Brown at the non-striker's end during India's tour of Australia, creating a dismissal type that would bear his name for decades.
Australia vs England
2 December 1932
England captain Douglas Jardine devised the 'Bodyline' strategy of fast, short-pitched bowling aimed at the batsman's body to neutralize Don Bradman, nearly causing a diplomatic crisis between England and Australia.