Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne said that the fame he received after 1993's 'ball of the century' changed his life.
Australian spin legend Shane Warne says the success that came with his 'ball of the century' in 1993 split him into two people and his habit of living in the moment without thinking about consequences often landed him in trouble which embarrassed his family.
Success and controversies chased Warne in equal measure in his career. He was banned for 12 months in 2003 for doping and missed the World Cup but went on to become one of the greatest leg-spinners the game has ever produced.
He said the success that followed his 1993 ripping 'ball of the century' with which he bowled Mike Gatting had a massive influence on his life.
"I was 23 when that happened. I remember going to the Windmill Pub in London, we were staying at the Westbury Hotel 100 yards up the road ... and I went for a pint with Merv (Hughes)," he says.
"And when I came out there was, without a word of a lie, probably 25-30 photographers just taking pictures. The next day was about 'Shane Warne was at the pub'. I was getting critiqued about what I was wearing, I had '10 things you don't know about Shane Warne' and I'm reading it going, 'that's not true, I didn't know that about me!'"
The 50-year-old also opened up about past controversies in episode four of 'A Week With Warnie' on Fox Cricket. Read here.
The former Aussie spinner said that the stories concerning him were often spun to give them a controversial look. "I didn’t really understand how it worked when I had to read these things about myself that weren’t true which was quite tough to take," said Warne.
"You don’t want to spend your life worrying about that stuff but I did. I worried. I was like, ‘That’s not what I’m like’. So I found that I didn’t understand how it (the media) worked and I resented it.”
