This is the first time we are doing an article about the Top 5 best Bowling Performances and there could be no one better to start with than the legendary leg spinner from Australia Shane Warne. He is one of the greatest bowlers of all time irrespective of spin or pace. The amount of wickets he has taken especially in test cricket and the number of years he has dominated over world cricket with his skills was really a sight to behold. He was the one who made bowling leg spin look cool and his deliveries would bamboozle the batters.
Picking the top 5 Best bowling performances of this man is as tough as picking the best batting Performances of Don Bradman, there are so many that it’s so difficult to limit it to just 5 but we will try our best to do justice to this great man. So, let’s take a look at the Top 5 best bowling performances by Shane Warne.
8/71 vs England at Brisbane (1994): Warne’s Best Bowling Figures in an innings in Test
This was early on in the career of Shane Warne and he absolutely loved bowling against England. This 8/71 vs England is also his best bowling figures in an innings in his test career so it has to be among his very best spells. He picked a total of 11 wickets in this match and 8 off them coming in one innings where he completely outfoxed the batters and they had no clue as to what and where Shane Warne was bowling to them. His wickets include Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe and Graham Gooch. This incredible performance helped him get noticed by the cricketing world and then there was no looking back for this great leg spinner from Australia.
7/23 vs Pakistan at Brisbane (1995)
Another incredible bowling performance by this incredible bowler from Australia and this time the opponents were the great Pakistan team of the 1990s and he made them look like school playing kids as he ran circles around them especially in the second innings of this test match where he gave away just 23 runs and picked up 7 wickets in 16 overs the world yet again looked in awe of the greatness that was unfolding before their eyes and they knew he would become one of the best ever and he didn’t disappoint anyone.
7/52 vs West Indies at Melbourne (1992)
This was very early on in his career and the opponents were the West Indies who were still a very good team during that time and for him to do that to them at such a young stage in his career set the stage for what was about to come for Shane Warne. This incredible performance came in the second innings of this test match where West Indies needed 380 runs to win but Shane Warne ran through the batting line-up and won the match for Australia with esse.
5/33 vs West Indies at Sydney (1996): Shane Warne best bowling figures in ODI
After looking at some of his best bowling performances in the test format it is now time to look at a couple in the 50 over format as well where he was extremely successful as well and his best ODI bowling performance came against the West Indies in 1996 when he helped to restrict the West Indies to a paltry score of just 161 and in 9.3 overs he gave away just 33 runs and picked up 5 wickets for his efforts.
4/19 vs New Zealand at Melbourne (1993)
The New Zealand were batting second in this ODI match and they just had to chase 203 runs in the second innings but they could not do it as Shane Warne got in their way and bowled a magical spell where he got 4 wickets and Australia won that match easily as well just showing what a special bowler he was and the things he went on to do for Australia were awesome.
Also Read | Greatest Australian Cricketers of all time
