Shane Warne career timeline

September 13, 1969 - Born in Melbourne.

1990 - Released from Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide for disciplinary reasons.

January 1992 - Makes Test debut as a 22-year-old against India. In two Tests against India his overall figures were 1 for 228, and the gamble by the Australian selectors on the young Warne looked to have backfired. Rod Marsh invites him to return to the Academy and his career is transformed after linking up with the coach Terry Jenner, who becomes his mentor.

August 1992 - Picked for short tour of Sri Lanka. After quiet start to first Test in Colombo, takes 3 for 11 from 5.1 overs in the second innings as Australia conjure a dramatic victory against the odds. This first significant success at Test level sounds a warning to the rest of the world.

June 1993 - After bagging 17 wickets in three Tests against New Zealand, he bamboozles Mike Gatting with his first ball in an Ashes Test at Old Trafford. It's labelled the "Ball of the Century'' and a superstar has arrived, with a Warne-inspired Australia completing an emphatic Ashes victory.

December 1993 - Takes 7 for 52 against West Indies in Melbourne.

Warne's behaviour has often been unusual for an elite athlete © Getty Images

January 1994 - Fined by the ICC after he lets rip at the departing Daryll Cullinan in a match against South Africa.

1994 - Leading wicket-taker in all three series he played in, rounding off the campaign with a hat-trick against England in Melbourne to help Australia retain the Ashes. Also takes 8 for 71 at Brisbane to ensure victory after Mark Taylor had decided not to enforce the follow-on. He is named Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1994.

1995 - Mark Waugh and Warne were fined by the then ACB, now Cricket Australia, after admitting they supplied match information to an Indian bookmaker. The ACB covered up the scandal, but the media exposed it three years later.

1996 - Plagued by injury, and after receiving treatment on his shoulder, he requires surgery on his major spinning finger, causing him to miss a short tour of India. Worries surface - will he be the same on his return?

Warne and Mark Waugh face the media after the betting revelations © Getty Images

August 1997 - ...Yes he will. He takes 24 wickets and scores 188 useful runs while Australia come back from the disappointment of losing the first Test to retain the Ashes in England. Shows his delight with his famous victory dance at Trent Bridge, wiggling his hips and brandishing a stump on the dressing room balcony.

July 1998 - Told by surgeons he might never play cricket again after an operation on his troublesome shoulder.

April 1999 - After returning from a broken finger in the final Ashes Test of 1998-99, he is dropped for the last game in West Indies as the selectors prefer Stuart MacGill. It was the only time they felt that way.

June 1999 - Named Man of the Match in Australia's World Cup final victory over Pakistan at Lord's. He considered retiring during the tournament but stays on and on.

March 2000 - Becomes Australia's highest Test wicket taker by passing Dennis Lillee's 355 in New Zealand. Named as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Century.

2000 - Joins Hampshire in the County Championship.

August 2001 - Claims 31 wickets as Australia retain the Ashes with a 4-1 win, taking 11 for 229 in the final Test at The Oval. Becomes only the sixth bowler to take more than 400 wickets in the process.

October 2002 - Named Man of the Series as he claims 27 wickets as Australia record a 3-0 win in Pakistan. Takes his tally to 477 Test wickets and easily beats the Australian record for most wickets in a three-Test series, previously held by Lillee and Richie Benaud with 23.

December 2002 - Takes 14 wickets in the first three Tests of Australia's 4-1 Ashes series win over England, but misses the last two after suffering a dislocated shoulder in a one-day international on December 15. He races to be fit for the World Cup and says he will retire from one-day internationals after the tournament.

February 2003 - Receives a 12-month suspension from the ACB for taking a banned diuretic that he claims was given to him by his mother to help lose weight. The failed drug test is announced on the eve of the World Cup and he leaves to Australia.

March 2004 - In his return to Tests after his ban, he takes 26 wickets, including two ten-wicket hauls in a three-game series in Sri Lanka and passes 500 career victims.

October 2004 - Overtakes Muttiah Muralitharan in India to claim the world record for the most Test wickets in his own right.

January 2005 - Makes a one-off return to one-day internationals for the ICC World XI in the tsunami appeal game against the Asia XI.

March 2005 - Announces he will live in England and only return to Australia during summer.

May 2005 - Scores his maiden first-class century when he strikes 107 for Hampshire against Kent.

June 2005 - Separates from his wife Simone after 10 years of marriage.

June 2005 - Tries to save his trademark blond hair by having replacement treatment at Advanced Hair Studio, whose other spokesmen include Graham Gooch and Greg Matthews.

July 2005 - Loses his $300,000 a year contract with Channel 9 after the station's owner Kerry Packer decides Warne's off-field conduct will reflect badly on the company.

September 2005 - Finishes the Ashes series with 40 wickets from five matches - 16 more than any other bowler from either side.

December 17, 2005 - Breaks Dennis Lillee's 24-year-old record of 85 Test wickets in a calendar year when he gets Ashwell Prince lbw at Perth. Warne finishes 2005 with 96 dismissals.

March 28, 2006 - Gets Australia over the line for a series victory in South Africa, taking 6 for 86 and trapping Makhaya Ntini lbw with a wrong'un as bad light threatened to save the hosts.

September 14, 2006 - Ruffles feathers in the Australia camp by questioning the worth of the coach John Buchanan. "I'm a big believer that the coach is something you travel in to get to and from the game."

December 2006 - Bowls a mammoth 53 overs in the first innings without luck before claiming 4 for 49 in the second and instigating Australia's incredible comeback victory against England at Adelaide.

December 18, 2006 - Takes the final wicket, his 699th in Tests, to win back the Ashes for Australia at Perth.

December 21, 2006 - Announces his retirement from Test cricket, starting from the end of the Ashes.