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ABC News

Sport

Shane Warne portrait added to Greats of the Game collection at Bradman museum

Shane Warne Dave Thomas Gideon Haigh Cricket Thailand

A portrait of Shane Warne completed after his death has been unveiled as the final painting in a collection of artworks depicting the most influential cricketers of all time.

In 2011 the Bradman Museum International Cricket Hall of Fame in Bowral, New South Wales, commissioned a group of pundits to select a shortlist of 20 players considered the greatest of all time.

Cricket legends like Vivian Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Adam Gilchrist all sat for artist Dave Thomas, who spent more than a decade working on the Greats of the Game collection for the museum.

Warne was the last player scheduled to sit for his portrait, before his sudden death in Thailand during March.

"He was not an easy person to get in one place," Thomas said.

"It took a while, but he was in full agreement that he would be part of [the collection]."

"We were hoping to get something done not long after he came back from Thailand but, of course, that didn't happen."

The 'Shane Warne we remember'

Thomas pored through photos and videos of Warne to capture his likeness and used a body double for the final portrait.

He said the painting was a tribute to the man fondly remembered as the king of spin.

"My aim was to try to capture him in his best light, so everybody can look at that portrait and say, 'That's the Shane Warne we remember. That's the Shane Warne we loved," Thomas said.

"It is my favourite portrait."

Cricket's pioneers honoured

A panel of judges, including Richie Benaud, Mike Coward, Gideon Haigh and Dave Gilbert, used a specific criteria to select the players for the collection.

To be eligible, they must have finished their playing career as cricketing pioneers whose significance would not diminish regardless of the game's evolution.

"We had a desire to spread the selections across the full vista of cricket, from the very earliest days of Test cricket, in fact, even before," Gideon Haigh said.

"You've got outsized characters. You've got players who are instantly recognisable to fans. You've also got a few more esoteric selections."

The resulting collection charts the history of cricket, from the early trailblazers of the 19th century, such as William Gilbert Grace, to the emergence of cricket as a global sporting phenomenon.

"Look at players like George Headley, you know, the first great batsman of colour," Haigh said.

"Look at Frank Worrell, the first great captain of colour.

"They made possible the cricketers of the next generation.

"In some ways you can't have a Vivian Richards until you've had a George Headley and Frank Worrell."

Enter the king of spin

Nearly two decades ago, Warne was introduced to Test cricket in England with a delivery that captured the imagination of the cricketing world.

In 2004 he broke the world record for the most career wickets in Test cricket, a record that stood until it was surpassed by Muttiah "Murali" Muralitharan, whose portrait also hangs among the collection.

"[Warne] took leg spin from clay and turned it into marble," Haigh said.

"He revolutionised and revived the skill of leg spin bowling."

Haigh said the game had changed significantly since the 20 greats were originally selected, and the list would likely grow in the future

"Twenty 20 at the time was just a blip on the horizon," he said.

"It was a rising force, but we could not have foreseen the way in which it would transform the playing and the economics of cricket.

"There are a few players who I would put in now just from the last 10 years who have revolutionised the game.

"You probably want Virat Kohli in there now."