Thread by @UpshotTowers

Shane Warne wasn't like other sportsmen.

A sex-mad cricketing genius, he once summed up his life: "I smoked, I drank, and I bowled a bit of leg spin. I don't have any regrets."

From sexting scandals to lasagne sandwiches, welcome to Warnie's World.

Shane Warne's eating habits were legendary.

He had lasagne sandwiches on Christmas Day, and took his own toaster to India so he could avoid the local cuisine.

On tour in 1998, 2,000 tins of baked beans arrived in a 3 ton crate stamped with the words "Shane Warne, India".

He once explained: "I reckon sitting in a restaurant is a waste of time, the same as cooking... Eat, go, party. I’m all about atmosphere and vibe.

"I like hot chips, pasta, pizza, white-bread cheese sandwiches and apples.

"If there’s an opposite to a foodie, I’m it."

Maybe his tastes were dulled by his 50-a-day smoking habit.

Nicorette once paid him $200k to kick the cigs, but he was spotted lighting up a few weeks later.

In 2021 he said: "I thought if I smoked 100 cigarettes a day I could kill Covid. I ended up on a ventilator."

His brush with drugs went even worse. In 2003, Shane's mum slipped him one of her weight loss pills.

"It was to get rid of a double chin,” he protested after failing a drugs test.

They banned him from cricket from a year.

But his biggest passion was shagging.

Shane's appetite for sex could backfire, like when he persuaded his wife to move to England with him.

As she stepped off the 24 hour flight she was greeted by a tabloid front page about her husband's latest affair.

But it could also be entertaining, like the time he left a match for a threesome:

"She sent me a picture of her kissing a girlfriend. I told her I would be there in an hour.”

"I started kissing them, and then they pulled a bed out of the wall. Well, we just went for it."

And then there's the sexting scandals.

He once tried to text a mistress "Hey beautiful, the back door's open", but accidentally sent it to his wife.

And Liz Hurley dumped him when he told another girl: “I'd like to see you riding me”.

When he discovered Tinder, Shane's sexting game went up a notch.

When one match questioned if it was really him, he assured her: "I am very, very, very single."

In 2018 one of his friends explained: “His life is Tinder, beers, darts, gambling, and cricket."

The shagging became part of his aura on the field.

He sledged Aussie-born batsman Adam Hollioake with jokes about Adam's family back home, mentioning his Aunt Jan by name.

Hollioake recalled: "I knew Warnie was a bit of a womanizer. Has he been round to see my Aunty Jan?".

While he was an absolute gent off the pitch, Shane could be a real bastard on it.

Here's former England captain Andrew Strauss describing an excellent exchange during the 2005 Ashes.

And of course, Warne was a cricketing genius.

In his first Ashes ever game in 1993, the England fans taunted him over his earring and tubby frame.

But with his first ball, he bowled out star batsman Mike Gatting.

They called it the Ball of the Century.

When Shane died last year, fans left cheese sandwiches, cigarettes and cans of beer under his statue.

They mourned a sporting genius who lived on a diet of vegemite on toast and Tinder.

In the words of the man himself: "Wow, that was fun."

Next time a sporting genius pops up sexting strangers on Tinder, you can read all about it in our free weekly email.

It's a 3 minute rundown of the funniest stories in sport.

Join 60k subs:

upshot.email/?utm_source=tw…