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By Oliver Brett
BBC Sport Online
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Warne received a hero's welcome after the 1999 World Cup
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As Shane Warne announces he will end his one-day career at the end of the World Cup, BBC Sport Online examines his legacy.
If the formbook is to be believed, Warne's final one-day match in the green-and-gold will be the World Cup final itself, perhaps against the host nation South Africa.
And it would be a fitting end for the player instrumental in Australia's 1999 triumph.
Warne, who has taken more one-day wickets than all bar five players, had one of his finest hours in the 1999 World Cup semi-final, against South Africa of course.
Journalist Michael Henderson was gushing in his praise for Warne's match-winning spell of four for 29 in 10 overs.
Warne's ODI record
191 matches
288 wickets
Average: 25.79
1,016 runs
Average: 13.19
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"There was a performance by Shane Warne that people will talk about when they are old and grey and nodding by the fire," he said.
"Combining the brilliance and bravery that is granted only to the great, he took hold of this match when it was drifting away from Australia and enabled them to win it.
"Hooray for Warne, and hooray for cricket-lovers everywhere. He was sensational."
Warne was also man-of-the-match in the final against Pakistan, when he took another four wickets.
However, when he fell heavily on his shoulder in a VB Series match on 15 December, the following day's newspapers in Australia were thinking the unthinkable.
Warne during the epic match against SA
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Would the injury stop the 33-year-old star from playing any cricket again?
Cricket-lovers everywhere were relieved to discover the answer was no.
And though the World Cup will be his one-day swansong there will be plenty more Tests for the blond Victorian.
But will there be a wider legacy left by the larger-than-life Australian?
Has his astonishing record guaranteed the place of leg-spin bowling in limited-overs cricket?
Australia's first match of this World Cup will feature Warne pitting his skills at the dusty Wanderers ground in Johannesburg against a stack of talented, wristy Pakistani batsmen.
Pakistan have a very good young spinner called Danish Kaneria who has done well in 10 Test matches, taking 42 wickets.
But he has played just a single one-day international and is not even in their World Cup squad.
Indeed a quick look at the squads of the 10 major nations at the tournament reveals just two other specialist leg-spinners - India's Anil Kumble and Zimbabwe's Brian Murphy.
A worrying trend appears to be to pick a player who can bat well, and if he bowls a bit of leg-spin then so much the better.
Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, Bangladesh's Alok Kapali and Warne's Aussie colleague Brad Hogg are prime examples.
Even Warne's biggest fans would admit he would never have made the team had those criteria been in place in the early 1990s.
And national selectors around the globe will have to be a little braver in future if leg-spinners are not simply regarded as Test specialists.
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