Shane Warne's Century: My Top 100 Test Cricketers

by Shane Warne, Michael Parkinson (Foreword by)

With a flamboyant approach to the game on and off the pitch, Australia's greatest bowler Shane Warne is an irresistible cricketing force. Here he candidly profiles 100 players from every Test nation who have had the most significant impact on his cricketing life. Warne has never scored a Test century, although he has reached 99 three times, so he wants to set the record straight by writing about a century of cricketing stars whom he has encountered during his career. From fellow Australian legends Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, and Glen McGrath to adversaries such as Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jonty Rhodes, and Freddie Flintoff, plus a dream team 11 of those Test players he would have loved to have played with, Warne serves up highly readable anecdotes and opinion. Throughout the book, Warne opines on the serious issues affecting the game today, such as cheating and match fixing, and assesses a number of unhappy professional relationships of his own, including those with Sri Lankan all-rounder star Arjuna Ranatunga and South African captain Graeme Smith. This a genuine page-turner by one of cricket’s most popular stars is a must-read for all cricket fans.

Genres: Nonfiction

317 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Shane Keith Warne was an Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet and the only one still playing at the time. He was also a cricket commentator and a professional poker player.

Reviews

[Maynk Desai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a century.....

Watching him being caught a run short of his maiden test century was sad. He has more than made up for the blip with this amazing century of cricketers. Fine discreption for one of the best to have graced this beautiful game. Congratulations Shane for this incredible collection of the lords of thr game.

Theres simply a lot to learn on leadership from you mate.... its absolutely true when they call you "The best captain Australia never had"....

Keep turning .. cheers.

[Umesh Kesavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book authored by a non-writer who is more comfortable bamboozling the Gattings of the world, it is inevitable that the writing quality is pedestrian with a lot of repetition. Yet, the book is a good read because we get to pick Shane Warne's brain on the cricketers of his era.

As an Indian, it feels good that the Greatest spinner ever rates Sachin as the best test cricketer of his era. A must read for fans of Warnie.

[Peter Langston · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read it but couldn't finish it ... dreadful writing in that blokey, matey manner in which he conducts himself in the media. As a writer he was a great leg spinner. The ratings are interesting but the reasons become fairly thin once you are past the top ten. This is the worst cricket book I have read since Bradman's "Farewell To Cricket". Shocker.

[CA Bhushan · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book presents top 100 test match cricketers, according to the great shane warne. i do not aggry with some choices e.g. Shaihid afridi, shoabe aktar, Carl hooper, Arjuna Ranatunga, broos read, and shane bond to name a few. many of the choices do not have much impressive record, or have played a very few international games. players such as the great inzamam-ul-hak, mahela jayavardeena, Shivnarien Chandrapaul are rated very low, in spite of their excellent records. just because andriv flintoff did well against australia, he has been rated too high. there should have been some other players like Unis Khan of Pakistan, Javagal Shrinath of India, hershele gibs os south afrika etc, who have far better records than say mike Atherton, robbin smith etc, in this list. why is Saurav Ganguli ranked lower than Arjuna Ranatunga,in spite his better contribution as a player and captain? in spite oa all this, the book is a good read.

[Sunset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bit of a biased list but a good read

[Roshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In one single word, fantabulous. In two, fantastic and fabulous. Describes Shane Warne's exploits as a cricketer too. Isn't it? Shane Warne's Century: My Top 100 Test Cricketers, is his first century in international cricket albeit he completes it with able support of 100 test cricketers. He overhauls his highest of 99 with the help of Brendon McCullum to record his first ton ever as a batsman for Australia. Shane Warne, in a very true to his stature kind of gesture lists the 100 top test cricketers who have been a part of his journey in international cricket and played against him or with him during his long lasting career. The former great's collection of snippets on the top 100 and their ranking order is included as a narrative based on the player's impact on the test matches he was a part of, his level of consistency, and the overall impact he has had on the game of cricket. When I picked the story for a read, for once I was pretty certain and confident about various prolific cricketers (close to a 70 off the hundred) making it to Warney's elite list. To my surprise, his list threw up a few unexpected inclusions. Over the years, being an avid follower of the game it was obvious to me that the Aussie great's list would include Indian players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, and Anil Kumble. From my viewpoint, the surprise entrants were Ravi Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Mohammad Azharuddin. And among the players from other cricket playing nations, the inclusion of Darren Lehmann, Devon Malcolm, Simon Jones, Jacob Oram, Shahid Afridi, Greg Matthews, and Tim May came as a surprise to me.

In his narration, the ingenious leg break bowler makes no bones about including the names of a few unorthodox players in the top 100. His reasoning on inclusion of these players does not sound very convincing to me solely on one pretext - he revisits the glory days of these players and states one or two odd lustrous match winning performances of their career as a qualifier for them making it to his 100. His excerpts on Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Virender Sehwag, Waugh brothers - Mark and Steve, Brett Lee, Kumar Sangakkara, Allan Donald, Jonty Rhodes, Sourav Ganguly, and Matthew Hayden is worth a hundred reads. In his pursuit of describing their playing nature as the Australian way, he goes a step further in his revelation stating, these players were the ones most likely to give their heart and soul for the team on the cricket field most of the times. This coming from a player of great caricature like stature Shane Warne speaks a ton about his character and sportive spirit. The book also includes his views on controversies that have marred his career.

The foreword by Sir Michael Parkinson highlights the clever side of the art of presenting the matter in a way it has been, to its readers. Strictly speaking, Sir Michael Parkinson nails it here, if one is allowed to quote like Warnie himself. On a serious note, the foreword presents a resonating notion of Sir Michael Parkinson having nightmares of master batsmen dancing down the wicket to send the ball sailing into the stands (master batsmen including Shane Warne, who's enjoying his success of a maiden hundred in international cricket with this book). So much that he puts Shane Warne right up there with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Don Bradman, W.G. Grace, and Vivian Richards in his list of top cricketers. Nevertheless, all's well that ends well with the book throwing up a few surprise elements in the top 100. Warne has also dedicated enough writing space to name his all time great Australia XI and Rest of World XI teams taking into consideration, only the entire generation of players to have graced the game of cricket before him. He calls it his Dream Test Match teams. He also justifies the selection of his players for the two teams, Australia XI and Rest of World XI. The segment on selection of the greatest Australia XI and Rest of World XI forms the concluding part in the book.

To summarize, Shane Warne's Century: My Top 100 Test Cricketers presents enticing essays on many cricket greats, who also happen to be good ambassadors of the game. Shane Warne's modesty is appreciable and visible in the way he has stocked up statistics and facts about his contemporaries giving fair amount of weight age to their cricketing credentials. My rating of this decent book is 3 on 5. The book has just about enough facts to keep our mind occupied till the last page is read. No on tenterhook element in the offing here. I enjoyed watching, oops enjoyed reading Shane Warne's first international hundred. Cheers mite.

[Mayank · Rating 2 out of 5]

You expect a lot from the Magician; be a ball or pen in his hand. His aura and influence could be felt in the first edition of the IPL where his team played above their level and lifted the trophy. Much was attributed to his cricketing acumen, his inspiring influence on the youngsters and his leadership besides his own craft at turning the ball.
Sadly, the book never presents the candid Shane Warne we all know. The Showman is not there. Barring a few articles, most of them are his tributes to his fellow players and almost all of them talk the same stuff. No article brings out the rivalry he shared. No ploys, no conversations, no dressing room talks shared. All too sweet.
One should question the rankings. It is an individual choice here and he is entitled to make one after all these years serving the game. He does surprise you with some omissions and some unexpected entries. But he never fully describes the basis.
The book has its moments though, like the no holds barred article for a former SL captain, couple of incidents shared with his closest pals and some observations. These make you think of what this book could have been. He was not expected to know about each of them but still, he seems to be out of rhythm here.

[Vineet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average writing style, no surprises among Warne's choices (12 out of top 25 are Aussies) and Warne tells us very little that we don't know already. Little anecdotes thrown here and there keep this book going, otherwise there isn't much to write about.

[Hafeez · Rating 4 out of 5]

shane warne is best spinner

[Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bit of a biased list but a good read