The resulting masterpiece is as much about our fascination with Warnie as it is about the player himself. Warne’s wizardry is rich enough to unleash Haigh’s, and Haigh’s wizardry brings Warne’s to life anew.Gideon Haigh on Shane Warne is an irresistible pairing: 'the finest cricket writer alive' ( The Australian) on the greatest cricketer of our times. Haigh’s descriptions of Warne dismissing batsmen “in a state of near or total paralysis”, and of Warne’s appeals being “more like an invitation” to the umpire to join a party are precise to anyone who has witnessed these things. You get the feeling that Haigh understands Warne’s mastery better than Warne himself, and he never fails to capture it crisply. Haigh’s Warne is more hapless than contemptible: this will enrage some.įor mine, Haigh is at his inimitable best in his chapter on ‘The Art of Warne’. although almost certainly a sentimental one, dedicated to the pursuit of poontang while at the same time exalting his wife, even after they were divorced”. The result, though, is a somewhat sympathetic account that has Warne as “a philanderer. For this, Haigh provides thoughtfully considered context. But those determined to see Warne narrowly as a casual purveyor of infidelity above all else will be sorely disappointed. Cricket fans will be completely engrossed: Haigh’s analysis of Warne’s statistics is the most incisive I’ve seen, and his eye for relevant detail is astonishing. Haigh’s is an exquisite treatment of a much-discussed subject. A cricket writer as peerless as Haigh knows this. A conventional biography would somehow obscure Warne’s story. His controversies skirt the game’s most cardinal sins – match-fixing, performance-enhancing drugs and womanising – but he somehow emerges mostly adored. He’s uncouth, but also the greatest ever exponent of the most refined art in cricket – leg-spin bowling. He can predict precisely how and when he’ll take his next wicket, or the result of a tied one-day match, but is unable to foresee that taking money from a stranger (who turns out to be an Indian bookie) in exchange for match information is a bad idea. It works because Warne is such a mercurial, contradictory character. Shane Warne is presented as a many-faceted phenomenon, and each facet treated with a special focus. There’s Warne as artist, Warne as teammate, protégé and deputy, Warne as hapless scandal-magnet. It’s a study, constructed much in the manner of a university subject, examining Australia’s greatest modern cricketer from different angles. The subject matter is so central to the human condition, so timeless, that we are duty-bound to engage.Īnd that’s pretty much how Haigh approaches this book. No more elaborate title is necessary to justify the inquiry. It sounds like a tome of grave significance.

Gideon haigh on shane warne