Shane Warne's top 10 moments

To celebrate the birthday of Australia's greatest wicket-taker, cricket.com.au looks back at the top 10 moments of Shane Warne's illustrious career.

10. Australia v New Zealand, Perth 2001 Desperate to reach his maiden Test century, Warne's lusty swipe on 99 found the hands of Mark Richardson at deep midwicket. Replays later showed bowler Daniel Vettori's front foot was clearly over the popping crease. If only DRS was around back then.

Optus Top 6: Heartbreaking 99's

9. Australia v England, Brisbane 1994 Warne's best bowling in an innings came early in his career, with the leg-spinner taking 8-71 against England at the Gabba, Brisbane. Needing 508 to win, the Old Enemy looked to draw the match, but Warne had other ideas, bowling more than 50 overs to hand Australia a 1-0 series lead.

From the vault: Warne's 8-71 at the Gabba

8. Australia v West Indies, Melbourne 1992 The flipper to remove West Indies captain Richie Richardson is regarded by Warne as one of his best. In only his fifth Test, Warne claimed seven second-innings wickets to lead Australia to a memorable win over the best team in the world.

Optus Exclusive: The Warne legend is born

7. Australia v England, Melbourne 1994 Warne become the seventh player to take an Ashes hat-trick when he removed Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm with consecutive deliveries, the hat-trick ball brilliantly caught by David Boon at short leg.

From the Vault: A very Warnie Christmas

6. England v Australia, Birmingham 2005 Twelve years after the Gatting Ball, Warne produced a delivery of arguably equal brilliance to remove opening batsman Andrew Strauss on the evening of day two at Edgbaston. The ball pitched so wide of off-stump that Strauss attempted to pad the ball away, only to be left dumbfounded as it spun viciously into the stumps.

5. Australia v England, Melbourne 2006 This script could not have been written better for the King of Spin. Entering his final Boxing Day Test on 699 Test wickets, a packed MCG crowd had to wait more than 40 overs to see their hero take wicket No.700, but it was very much worth it, with the legendary leg-spinner again bowling Strauss to send the crowd into raptures.

From the Vault: Shane Warne reaches 700

4. New Zealand v Austalia, Auckland 2000 & India v Australia, Chennai 2004 In 2000, Warne passed Dennis Lillee as Australia's highest Test wicket-taker after he dismissed New Zealand's Paul Wiseman in Auckland to reach wicket number 356. Four years later in Chennai, India allrounder Irfan Pathan became Warne's 533rd Test victim, allowing Warne to surpass Muthiah Muralidaran as cricket's most successful bowler.

3. Australia v England, Adelaide 2006 Entering day five, a draw seemed the only realistic outcome of the second Ashes Test. England led on the first innings with nine wickets in hand, but an inspirational spell by Warne flipped the game on its head, paving the way for an unthinkable Australian victory.

Amazing Adelaide

2. South Africa v Australia, Edgbaston 1999 At 0-48 chasing 214, South Africa were well on the way to ending their World Cup hoodoo as a place in the final beckoned. Australia needed a breakthrough. Enter Warne. In the space of three overs he literally turned the game Australia's way, taking three wickets to wrestle the momentum back to Steve Waugh's men before the dramatic climax of arguably the greatest one-day international of all time.

World Cup 1999 epic

1. England v Australia, Old Trafford 1993 The ball of the century. What more needs to be said?