When the topic of best ever bowlers is discussed, it’s more often than not that Warne’s name crops up.

Celebrating his 47th birthday today, Warne quickly became one of the most lethal bowlers in the international game.

Mastering one of the most difficult skills in the game, the Australian proved that leg-spinners can claim bagfuls of wickets.

In his 15-year international career, he took more than 1,000 scalps in both Tests and ODIs.

His 708 Test wickets was the record for the most by any bowler, until it was broken by Muttiah Muralitharan.

He also proved useful with the bat, scoring 3,000 runs as a lower-order batsman.

He became an integral part for Australia and won a number of trophies including the World Cup twice and was named Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2004 and 2005.

1967: Michael Johnson, four-time Olympic and eight-time world champion (49).

1973: Fabio Cannavaro, Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning captain (43).

1986: Kamui Kobayashi, Japanese former Formula One driver with Caterham (30).

1989: Thomas Muller, Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder who won the 2014 World Cup (27).