Cricket: Warne spot on to the end

Without bowling a ball, Shane Warne this week provided a classic example of what separates great sportsmen and great comedians from the other jokers. It is timing.

In announcing his retirement from one-day international cricket at the end of the World Cup, Warne has ensured that he will go out where he has been these past 10 years: at the top. He could also prolong his test career by five or six years and surge past every record.

By the time he delivers his last ball in the short game in March (the odds are that it will be a hugely-turning leg break) he should have reached several landmarks, such as 300 wickets, 200 matches, and another World Cup final victory if Australia match their status as favourites.

The exalted leg-spinner took his decision before his latest comeback from injury. Last month he dislocated a shoulder in a limited-over match against England and the remarkable speed of his recovery failed to change his mind. He had been mulling it over for a few months.

"The amount of stress on your body is considerable and I didn't really come to my conclusion until I was carried off on a stretcher in Melbourne," he said.

"I never thought 10 years ago that I would be down the track saying this. I have achieved more than I ever thought I would. This is an opportunity for me to go out on my terms, rather than getting a tap on the shoulder in a year's time."

Warne has unquestionably made the right move at the right time. He has already come back from a series of shoulder injuries over the past decade and the concerted programme of tests and one-day series could have been designed to shorten cricketers' careers.

At 33, it was unlikely that Warne could have gone on for more than another two years at most. And he was right in sensing the tap on the shoulder - Mark Taylor, Ian Healy and Steve Waugh have all received the tap in recent years from Australia's selectors before they felt their one-day time was up.

"Everyone I've spoken to thinks it is a pretty positive, smart decision," Warne said. "I've done it now because I did not want to go to the World Cup thinking about it."

Trevor Hohns, the chairman of Australia's selectors, said they and Warne had talked about the long-term pressures of international cricket.

"The selectors agree that removing those pressures should prolong his effectiveness as a test bowler," Hohns said.

With Warne's going, even from the less-celebrated form of the game, a significant chapter will close. He and the other notable spinners of the era have demonstrated what a significant role they have to play in curbing runs.

His greatest moments were probably in the 1999 World Cup. In the months before, he had been struggling to recover from another injury. When the tournament began he looked in moderate form and many were writing him off.

By the time of the semifinal the leg-spinning machine was honed. He helped to see off South Africa in the most pulsating of semifinal matches by removing four of the top five. Four days later, in the final against Pakistan, he took four for 33 and won the man-of-the-match award.

Warne has played 191 one-day internationals and taken 288 wickets at an average of 25.79 and a run rate of 4.25. But it was his ability to rise to the occasion - his timing - that marked him out.

His form in the past year has been remarkable, as good, he said, in terms of statistics and performance, as it has ever been. But he could smell burn-out and he went. Word got out that he was about to announce his departure and a flotilla of cameramen awaited him. A smiling Warne dodged them through a side door. It was timing.

- INDEPENDENT