Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing a Wisden Cricketer of the Century – the best legspinner of his generation, with 450 Test wickets to his name – Mr Shane Warne. Warne gave Wisden Online a few moments of his busy time last month - when he was in England on a comedy tour with his old buddy, Merv Hughes. He talked about his love of England and his time at Hampshire, the players who've earned his respect, and how he got into cricket in the first place. For many, cricket is as much about statistics as winning and losing, but not for Warne. "To me, cricket's about funny stories and making good friends – not just stats." He stressed that this was the 15th time he has been to England and he loves it every time. "I love England. I love watching cricket here, I love the way the people appreciate good, positive cricket". And what about the national team? "They [English supporters] may get a bit frustrated at times but they seem to be improving."

Warne described his year at Hampshire in 2000 as "an honour and an opportunity". He expressed how much he enjoyed it – but was still visibly annoyed that he was unable to prevent their relegation. He could not speak highly enough of his captain at Hampshire, Robin Smith, both as a person and as an international batsman. "He's without doubt the nicest guy in cricket I've ever met and in my mind, England got rid of him far too soon. He averaged 45 and only one person in England team now averages over forty." Ironically, it was Warne himself who did so much to bring Smith's Test career to a premature end.

Making friends is a big priority in Warne's cricketing world, but he regretted that the modern game is making that increasingly more difficult. "We like to play hard on the pitch and take the piss out of each other and then and have a beer and a laugh about it afterwards. But times are changing with this new professionalism creeping into the game. I remember once grabbing a four-pack and going to talk and listen to Kapil Dev and Kris Srikkanth, to soak up their thoughts on the game." However, even though this seems to be a thing of the past, Warne insisted the Aussies still find time to share a few tinnies with the opposition – England and South Africa in particular.

On the good mates he has made down the years, Warne mentioned Brian Lara, Jonty Rhodes, Brian McMillan, Darren Gough and Alan Mullally, and how he enjoyed having a laugh with them after the game: "It's an important part of the game which has virtually disappeared – it's more important to me than other things."

Back to matters on the pitch, who does he think has played him the best? Well, unsurprisingly it's two Indians. He described Sachin Tendulkar as "the best allround player I've played against, as he judges the length the best". Second is Navjot Sidhu who he described as one of the most dominant players of spin of his time.

So, who inspired a young Shane Warne to become Australia's greatest legspinner? Well, no-one apparently. "I was a batsman as a youngster and just mucked about with leggies." But soon, the mucking about became a bit more serious as his bowling got better and better. He was picked for Victoria in 1990, and then for Australia the following year. After a disappointing debut against India, the rest, as they say, is history.

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