August 11, 2005, Old Trafford, Manchester. The third Ashes Test between England and Australia. Shane Warne etched his name in the history books. The great Australian leg-spinner became the first bowler to take 600 Test wickets.
The atmosphere was electric as Warne started his spell. After a few overs from the pace men, the crowd was on the edge of their seats. Everyone knew something special was about to happen. It was in his fifth over that it happened. Warne bowled one outside off stump to England opener Marcus Trescothick. The ball spun sharply, Trescothick was deceived. He tried to sweep it and only managed to edge it to Adam Gilchrist behind the stumps.
The crowd erupted as Gilchrist took the catch. Warne had 600 Test wickets. His team mates rushed to him and the Manchester crowd were on their feet, applauding. Warne took his hat off, a moment etched in cricket history.
Looking at the game as a whole, England batted first and were all out for 444. Michael Vaughan top scored with 166 off 215. Warne and Brett Lee took 4 wickets each, Jason Gillespie and Simon Katich one each. Australia were bowled out for 302, giving England a first innings lead of 142. Warne also scored 90 off 122 with the bat.
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In their second innings England declared at 280/6, setting Australia 423 to win. Andrew Strauss scored a century, 106 for the team. Australia fought hard but were 371/9. Ricky Ponting scored 156 off 275. The game was a draw.
Besides his 600th wicket, Warne had a good game, 4 wickets in the first innings, 90 with the bat and important runs in the 4th innings to help Australia get a draw.England won the series 2-1 but Warne finished with 40 wickets at 19.92. He went on to 700 Test wickets and finished with 708, second only to Muttiah Muralitharan in Test cricket. In all forms of the game he took 1001 wickets from 339 games. He is remembered as one of the all time greats.
