Shane Warne [Images] is a man who belongs in the headlines. It does not seem to matter whether he is in form or not, whether he is on the pitch or off it. If it is not the back page, then it will be the front.

Ninety-nine times out of 100, the man nicknamed 'Hollywood' sets the news agenda with the ability of a bowler credited with single-handedly resuscitating the art of leg spin.

Usually, the fuss is all about the damage inflicted on bemused, departing batsmen. On the other one percent of occasions, however, the damage tends to be self-inflicted.

Warne, no longer a one-day player, has yet to bowl a single ball against England [Images] during Australia's 2005 tour but his name has been a constant in recent weeks.

His personal life a subject of frenetic tabloid speculation, Warne announced a split with his wife just as he prepared to join the world champions' Test squad.

How his cricketing persona responds to the personal trauma may have a sizeable influence on the scoreline of this year's Ashes.

The greatest wicket-taker of all time, he has tortured English batsmen for more than a decade, even since bowling Mike Gatting with his first ball of the 1993 tour. They still call that drifting, dipping, ripping delivery the Ball of the Century'.

SHOULDER SURGERY

In six matches that year he took a table-topping 34 wickets at 25.79 runs apiece. In 1994-95, there were 27 more, and 24 in 1997. He missed most of the following series after shoulder surgery but was back with 31 victims at 18.70 in 2001. Last time, he managed 14 wickets in three games before injury intervened again.

In all, 132 of his 583 Test wickets have had an English imprint, including the best figures of his career, eight for 71 from 50.2 mesmerising overs at Brisbane in 1994.

The definition of Warne's bowling brilliance, though, has regularly been blurred by controversy.

He was fined for selling information to an Indian bookmaker during a 1994 tour of the sub-continent. There were a number of controversies involving women. Then in 2003 he missed the World Cup in South Africa after failing a drugs test for diuretics and being banned for a year.

Warne, who had been racing back from shoulder surgery to try to make the tournament, said he had taken the drugs inadvertently, blaming a slimming pill given to him by his mother.

His separation from his wife, shortly after the family had arrived in England for an extended stay, must be added to the list of Warne's soap-opera misadventures.

He has made it clear, however, that, despite domestic ructions, he will be mentally prepared by the time the Ashes series begins at Lord's on July 21.

"Over the years, one of my strengths as a cricketer has been my mental capacity to focus on the job at hand," he wrote in The Times.

"This will not be any different. I have never been on a side that has never lost the Ashes and I will do everything in my power to keep the record that way."

DRUGS BAN

As if to underline the point, he returned to Hampshire last week and scored a century against Middlesex.

England's batsmen are unlikely to take him lightly. The imminent demise of Shane Warne has been announced before, proving somewhat premature each time.

Some thought his drugs ban would spell the end of him. Others argued that shoulder and finger operations had robbed him of fluidity and turn.

Returning from his year away, however, Warne took 26 wickets at 20.03 in three Tests in Sri Lanka [Images] early last year as the Australians whitewashed the series. He has thrived ever since.

England say they will try to play the ball, not the reputation, but they will be fretting.

Michael Vaughan's [Images] batsmen have not seen much of Warne this season but they will not underestimate him.