The freak ‘lucky break’ that created the King of Spin Shane Warne

Shane Warne revealed before his death a traumatic accident as a child which left him with two broken legs could have been what made him cricket’s greatest ever leg-spinner. Here’s why.

Shane Warne. Picture: Getty Images

Just months before his shock death, Shane Warne revealed how a little-known freak injury he suffered as a child may have been the lucky break that helped turn him into cricket’s king of spin.

Plenty of theories have already been thrown up about how a chubby, blonde-haired kid from Melbourne broke the mould to rekindle the lost art of leg-spin bowling.

But a new theory – supplied by the sheik of tweak himself – has emerged after he disclosed how an accident he was involved in as a young kid enabled him to strengthen his wrists to spin the ball more than anyone else.

A young Shane Warne.

In the newly released Prime Amazon documentary ‘Shane’, the cricket legend said he thinks one of the keys to his success was that he once spent six months pulling himself around by his hands after fracturing both his legs.

“From memory, I think I was six, maybe seven, I was really young,” he said.

“I think I was going through those concrete cylinder things in kindergarten and I remember (being) hunched over in that and someone jumped on my back and I ended up breaking both my legs.

“So my dad made me a trolley and I had plaster to my ankles and I had to use my hands to get around for a good six months even longer because I couldn‘t walk.

“I have got quite big hands and big wrists, so I think it did help me to get around and strengthen those wrists at a young age because leg spin bowling you do use your wrist at everything.

“So I do think that played a big part.”

Released just seven weeks before the cricket world was plunged into mourning at the news that Warne had died from a suspected heart attack while in Thailand, the Prime Amazon documentary also shones a new light on the sport’s greatest showman.

He admits that his much-celebrated ‘ball of the century – when he dismissed England batsman Mike Gatting with his first delivery in the 1993 Ashes series – was ‘a fluke’ but also that he had a ‘nasty’ streak that drove him to succeed.

“One of my strengths on the field is I can intimidate people,” he said.

“Whether it be a word or a bit of silence, whether it was to stand at the top mark and spin the ball, whether it was to eyeball someone, the batsman at the other end, whether there was a little sledge here or there.

“Whatever it was. I was a man on a mission. I wasn‘t taking any prisoners. I wouldn’t have liked to play against me. I was nasty.”

But Warnie – as he was affectionaly known to his legion of fans throughout the world – also unveiled his softer side.

He admitted he had selfishly put cricket ahead of his family – contributing to the breakdown of his marriage – and how he tried to make amends by retiring from Test cricket in 2007 when he was still bagging wickets and an automatic selection in the Australian team.

“I can‘t shy away that I put my family second to try and be the best I possibly could for Australia and be the best player I could,” he said.

I was emotionally invested and I was always present with my family when I was with them. But when I was with cricket, cricket was my priority, and cricket was my focus.

Shane Warne with son Jackson. Picture: WireImage

“To be as good as I was, I had to be selfish at times. And most of the time I was.

“So the real reason I retired and the major reason was my children were 10, eight and six and I wanted to be with them more. I‘d missed so much of their life.

“I wanted to cut the lunches. I wanted to walk them to school. I wanted to watch them play sport. I just wanted to be more involved rather than part time. I wanted to be full time. I wanted to be a full time dad and that was the major reason I retired. And I bloody loved it.

“I don‘t pretend to be the perfect person. I’ve got lots of faults.

“I like loud music, I smoked, I drank, and I bowled a bit of leg spin. That was sort of me. I don‘t have any regrets.”