Shane Keith Warne (born 13 September 1969) is a former international Australian cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the finest leg spin bowlers in the history of cricket. . While his career statistics suggest that, despite his aggregate performances, phenomenal popularity and notoriety, he was perhaps less effective and destructive than the interbellum Australian leg-spinners Bill O'Reilly and Clarrie Grimmett, his durability and impact on the modern game assure his place alongside them in cricket's pantheon. Indeed, in 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only bowler selected in the quintet.

Warne played his first Test match in 1992, and his 708 wickets was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket. He took over 1000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals)—he was the second bowler to reach this milestone after Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan. A useful lower-order batsman, Warne also scored over 3000 Test runs, and he holds the record for most Test runs without a century. His career was plagued by scandals off the field; these included a ban from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance, and charges of bringing the game into disrepute.

As well as Australia, he also played for the Australian state side Victoria, and the English county Hampshire. He has been captain of Hampshire since 2004, and he is contracted to play for them until the end of 2008.

He retired from international cricket in January 2007, at the end of Australia's 5-0 Ashes series victory over England. Two other players integral to the Australian team of recent years, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, also retired from Tests on the same day which led some, including the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, to declare it the "end of an era".