Widely considered to be one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire, the Melbourne Stars and Australia.

During his career, Warne was involved in off-field scandals including a ban from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance, a colourful personal life and interactions with gambling figures.

[39] On 22 August 1992, however, Warne took the last three Sri Lankan wickets without conceding a run in the second innings, leading to a second-innings collapse and contributing to a 16-run Australian win.

Greg Matthews played in Warne's place; despite Australia being in a strong position on the final day, they could not dismiss the West Indies on a turning surface.

Warne bowled experienced English batsman, Mike Gatting, with a ball that drifted through the air and then turned from well outside leg stump to clip the off bail.

[56] The tour became controversial, however, when it emerged in early 1995 that the Pakistani captain, Saleem Malik, had approached Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May to throw the game during the First Test.

In the One Day series, Warne collected his only ODI five-for, against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, cleaning up the middle-order and tail to finish with 5/33.

[81][82] Australia's two top pace bowlers Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie missed the tour due to injury, leaving Warne to bowl more overs than usual.

Prior to Australia batting against South Africa in the Super Six phase, Warne addressed the team suggesting that after a catch, Herschelle Gibbs tended to throw the ball in celebration before controlling it and that batsmen should wait for the umpire to formally dismiss them.

Warne dismissed key South African batsmen Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Hansie Cronje and Jacques Kallis to finish with 4/29 for which he was named man of the match.

[113] Warne missed the entire Australian summer of 2000–01 with a finger injury; he battled Stuart MacGill and an in-form Colin Miller to be selected for Australia's tour of India in early 2001.

[132] In February 2003, a day before the start of the World Cup in Africa, Warne was sent home after a drug test during a one-day series in Australia returned a positive result for a banned diuretic.

[134] A committee established by the ACB found Warne guilty of breaching the board's drug code and imposed a one-year ban from organised cricket.

Warne's dismissal of Irfan Pathan, who was caught at slip by Matthew Hayden, saw him overtake his Sri Lankan rival Muttiah Muralidaran with 533 wickets.

[163] Warne also dropped a straightforward slips chance off Kevin Pietersen while he was on 15, with the English batsman going on to make 158 and England holding on to draw the match and win the series for the first time since 1986-87.

During the 2005-06 Australian home summer, Warne bowled impressively against the touring World XI, West Indies and South African teams.

[166][167] Against the West Indies, Warne collected 16 wickets across three Tests, with a best innings performance of 6/80 at the Adelaide Oval as the selectors partnered him again with fellow leg spinner, MacGill.

[113] After his retirement from international cricket, Warne was signed as the captain of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2008, fetching US$450,000 in the pre-season player auction.

From around 1977 until the early 1990s, the West Indies lost only one ill-tempered and controversial Test series with a bowling attack almost exclusively composed of four fast bowlers.

Haigh wrote about what he called Warne's pageantry and measured theatricality, including his exaggerated appeals, intimidation of batters, sledging, flirting with umpires, and time-wasting, all of which added to his competitiveness.

[233] Warne joined Muttiah Muralidaran in humanitarian efforts to help Sri Lankans who were adversely affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

[239] Celebrities interviewed on the program included the captain of the Australian cricket team Ricky Ponting, and singers Chris Martin and Susan Boyle.

[240][241] Warne also did promotional work for hair-loss-recovery company Advanced Hair; the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated this matter in relation to an illegal celebrity endorsement of medical services.

[256] Warne's private funeral took place on 20 March 2022 in Melbourne at Moorabbin Oval, the headquarters and former home ground of St Kilda Football Club.

[260] Outside Australia, many former and current cricketers also paid tribute, including England's Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan; India's Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli; New Zealand's Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson; Pakistan's Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis; South Africa's Graeme Smith; and West Indies' Brian Lara.

[265] Celebrities, including Warne's close friend Chris Martin of Coldplay, Russell Crowe, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Hugh Jackman and Magda Szubanski, also paid their respects.

"[271] Fans ornamented the statue of Warne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with flowers, beer, baked beans, meat pies and cigarettes.

[275] In June 2022, on the Queen's Birthday Honours list, Warne was posthumously appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his service to cricket and philanthropic contributions.

[306][307] In September 2022, it was reported that Australia's Nine Network had begun work on Warnie, a two-part biopic about Warne's life, within weeks of his death, describing the television miniseries as a fitting tribute.

Written by Matt Ford, the first part of the miniseries premiered on 25 June 2023, with the second episode airing the following night with Alex Williams portraying Warne.