Hamm L: Air flipper (on Warne) (01 Apr 95)

Air Flipper - Lisa M. Hamm

Michael has the dunk. Shane has the Flipper. They both have the shoes -- and the big checks -- to show for it. Shane Warne has been called the "Michael Jordan of cricket," and like His Airness the tousle-haired Australian has a sevenfigure contract with Nike to promote his own brand of athletic shoes.

Warne and Mike even met last summer for the shooting of a couple of Nike commercials -- Jordan's for the "Air Jordan," Warne's for the "Air Flipper."

That's Flipper, as in a lethal, spinning throw that has made the 25-year-old Warne the star bowler, or pitcher, for Australia's national team, which is dueling the West Indies in the Caribbean.

"He's probably the greatest spin bowler of all time," says Everard Gordon, a Trinidadian cricket expert who played professionally in England in the 1960s. "He can do stuff with the ball you have never, ever seen before."

With his yellow hair, blue eyes behind Oakleys, sun-kissed cheeks and playful smile, Warne looks like a surfer. But the fiery scab on his arm earned diving for a ball attests to how he makes his living -- and the diamond stud in his left ear underscores how well he's paid.

Pretty good for a guy who almost didn't make it in pro sports. Warne's dream was to play Australian Rules football, but the husky 6-footer was cut from the Melbourne team because he was too slow and too short.

"When I got the axe, I thought, what do I do now? I didn't want to work," he said. So Warne signed on with a pro cricket team in England, then landed a spot on the Victoria state squad in 1990.

It was up and down -- mostly down -- until 1992, when he led Australia to victory over Sri Lanka and played the "game of a lifetime" back home for Victoria.

"That was where my life turned around," said Warne. "It gave me a burst of confidence. I started believing in myself."

Since then, Warne has climbed to the top of the game, shutting down batsmen with his unusual style -- something between a curve and a knuckleball, topped by The Flipper, a vicious pitch with topspin that bounces upward in front of the batter..

"I don't try to get wickets (outs) by how fast I bowl," he said. "I get wickets by deceiving the batsman in flight. They think the ball's going to land where it doesn't."

Source :: Associated Press