Shane Warne dies aged 52 of suspected heart attack

Former Australian international cricketer Shane Warne has died aged 52 of a suspected heart attack in Thailand, Fox Sports reports.

"Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived," according to a statement from Warne's management quoted by Fox Sports.

"The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course."

His death came less than 24 hours after fellow great Rod Marsh died in hospital, having suffered a heart attack last week.

Warne made his Test debut for Australia in 1992 against India and played his last Test in 2007, at the end of Australia's 5-0 Ashes victory over England.

A leg-spinner, he set a world record of 708 Test wickets which has only been broken by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

He is also the only batsman to have scored more than 3,000 Test runs without a career century and has taken more Ashes wickets than any other Australian.

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He retired from international cricket at the same time as Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer, leading then-captain Ricky Ponting to declare "the end of an era".

He also played for his home state of Victoria, Hampshire in England and the Rajasthan Royals as both captain and coach between 2008 and 2011.

In 2011, he joined the Melbourne Stars for the inaugural season of the Big Bash League.

He officially retired from all formats of the game in 2013.

Since then, he has regularly worked as a commentator as well as working for his Shane Warne Foundation until it closed in 2017.

Known affectionately as "Warnie", the Victorian is regarded as one of the finest cricketers in history and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2013.

He was named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Century, alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Sir Vivian Richards.

Warne had three children with his former wife Simone Callahan, who he was married to between 1995 and 2005.

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In Warne's first Ashes Test in 1993, he announced himself as a future great with a delivery that went down in history.

At the time, Warne's preferred leg spin was seen by many as antiquated and he was the only spinner in Australia's attack alongside three pace bowlers.

He had played in 11 Tests, taking 31 wickets at an only moderate average of 30.80 and was not called to bowl until the second day of the first Ashes Test against England.

With his first ball, he delivered a leg break to right-handed English batsman Mike Gatting, an experienced player of spin.

Gatting presented a standard defensive block as the ball drifted outside his leg stump but it spun sharply off the pitch, missed the outside edge of his bat and clipped his off stump.

Gatting stared at the pitch for several seconds before walking off the field, as Warne and his teammates celebrated.

Warne was awarded man of the match after taking three more wickets in the first innings and four more in the second. 

Australia went on to win the series 4-1 and Warne was named Australia's man of the series, with 34 wickets at 25.79.

The delivery became known as the "Ball of the Century" and was followed by a resurgence of popularity in spin bowling, and leg spin in particular.

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