Forecast: Cyclone Shane is calming and due to leave cricket pitches and tabloids the world over in early January. Locals should expect an eventful day on, or around, Boxing Day in Melbourne before it proceeds in a north-easterly direction, where it will die out in Sydney.

Under the glaring eyes of the world's media, Shane Warne [Images] entered the member's dining room of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Australian leg-spinner's home turf. Banks of photographers, television and radio crews from every station, and an even greater number of news and sport journalists had earlier been told to gather at the MCG for a Warne announcement, but even then it wasn't certain what he was going to say.

Dressed in a dark suit and looking calm, Warne then revealed his intentions to retire from international and domestic cricket to the media, many of whom had never witnessed a press conference of such capacity. It was all rather surreal: morning tour groups were still being shown around, jumping up to find out what all the fuss was about, and a couple of chefs had somehow managed to get a vantage point from a stage at the back.

Warne managed a few light-hearted jokes in his comments too -- well received as usual -- before stating that he would have retired after the 2005 Ashes if Australia had won. The great leg-spinner also confirmed he would have carried on until 2009 if England [Images] had regained the urn this time around.

That determination was the way Warne's World worked and he kept on coming back for more. In 1998 his career looked over after a shoulder injury; he came back the following year and starred in the World Cup. He left the same tournament in disgrace, four years later, after testing positive for a dietary pill which he blamed on his mum giving him. After a 12-month ban he returned, becoming the world's leading wicket-taker, a record he still holds.

There were also the times when he was fined for supplying pitch information to an Indian bookmaker and losing out on a major sponsorship deal with Nicorette by having a fag in public. And then the other tabloid scandals: the barrage of text messages to a British nurse which cost Warne his Test vice-captaincy and his off-field shenanigans in Southampton last year which cost him his marriage.

Warne's warmth of character and unadulterated brilliance with the ball certainly saved him from spending more time on the sidelines and the wrath of Australia's cricket board. At least now he can bow out at the top. His last game on Australian soil will be the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney, while he will honour his Hampshire contract for the next two years.

However, It is the Boxing Day Test which will be the most anticipated: Warne needs one more wicket to reach the magical 700-wicket mark, a figure he has probably already gathered in column inches throughout his glorious career. He left the press conference to a round of applause, but he'll get more than that next week if that forecast is right.

Courtesy: Rod Gilmour/Cricketworld.com