5 of Shane Warne's Most Controversial Career Moments

Shane Keith Warne was single-handedly responsible for revitalising the art of leg-spin bowling.

During a 15-year stint playing Test cricket, the Australian claimed 708 wickets at an outstanding average of 25.41.

He claimed a further 293 scalps in one-day internationals and was part of the Australia side that, under captain Steve Waugh, won the 1999 Cricket World Cup on English soil.

However, Warne's career was not without the odd (yes, odd) moment of controversy.

One of those occasions occurred on March 6, 1994. Warne celebrated his dismissal of South Africa's Andrew Hudson rather too vigorously, launching a verbal tirade at the batsman.

Now, 22 years on from that rather unforgettable send-off, Bleacher Report has picked out five of the most controversial moments from Warne's playing days.

Please note: Only incidents to do with cricket were considered, not Warne's personal life. They are also listed in chronological order.

Australia's Test tour of South Africa in 1994 was a momentous occasion. Alan Border's side were the first to tour there in 24 years.

Warne, however, made sure the opening match of the series—played at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg—was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

The tourists were in trouble when Warne, kept out of the attack until the 44th over of the Proteas' second innings, bowled Andrew Hudson round his legs for 60.

The dismissed batsman was hit with a volley of expletives from the bowler on his departure, with The Wisden Almanack (h/t ESPN Cricinfo) noting, "rarely on a cricket field has physical violence seemed so close."

Warne was fined by both the match referee and the Australian Cricket Board at the end of a Test his team lost by 197 runs.

Warne later wrote in his autobiography, Shane Warne: My Own Story (h/t Arunabha Sengupta of Cricket Country: "Andrew had done nothing to deserve that sort of abuse. I look back at it now and wonder what was going on. The film of that incident is pretty awful, and the guy in the footage is not the real me."

Warne, along with Australia team-mate Mark Waugh, was punished for giving information on pitch and weather conditions to an Indian bookmaker—known as John—during a tour of Sri Lanka in 1994.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) fined the pair, although the incident didn't come to light until December 1998.

A press conference was held before the third Test of the 1998-99 Ashes series against England in Adelaide to counter a story published by journalist Malcolm Conn in The Australian.

Warne—who was injured at the time—read a prepared statement to the media.

ACB chairman Malcolm Speed said, per BBC News: "It had been investigated immediately, and the players had freely admitted their involvement, they were fined, they paid their fine and the International Cricket Council was told about the incident."

Warne and Arjuna Ranatunga were the best of enemies when they were playing against each other.

The Australian made his feelings clear about the Sri Lanka batsman in 1999, telling the Times (h/t the Guardian): "There is plenty of animosity between Arjuna and myself. I don't like him, and I'm not in a club of one."

The International Cricket Council were not impressed with Warne's words prior to the Cricket World Cup that same year.

They charged him with bringing the game into disrepute, resulting in the leg-spinner being hit with a fine and a suspended two-match ban.

Ranatunga was hardly a shrinking violet when it came to offering his opinion. He told AFP in 2005 (h/t the Sydney Morning Herald) that Warne was an "overrated bowler" who could "never be a role model."

It is safe to say that the pair don't exchange Christmas cards.

The 2003 Cricket World Cup had barely started when the tournament suffered a huge casualty.

Warne was seen as a key part of the Australia side looking to retain the trophy they had won in England in 1999, yet a desire to lose weight cost him a year of his career.

The leg-spinner—who had fought his way back from a dislocated shoulder to play in South Africa—tested positive for a banned diuretic.

On his arrival back home, Warne said he had taken a fluid-reduction tablet given to him by his mother. "The tablet actually dehydrates you and gets rid of any excess fluid in the body," he explained, per the Guardian.

Hit with a 12-month ban, Warne had to watch on from afar as Ricky Ponting's Australia eased to glory, beating India in the final.

He never played another one-day international for his country again.

Warne signed up to play for the Melbourne Stars in the inaugural Big Bash League (BBL), leading the franchise to the semi-finals as captain in their second season.

However, his spell playing in the domestic Twenty20 competition in Australia is perhaps best remembered for a confrontation with Marlon Samuels in January 2013.

The derby clash with the Melbourne Renegades turned ugly all because Samuels, the bowler at the time, had grabbed batsman David Hussey as the Stars player turned to go for a second run.

Captain Warne was unhappy with the West Indian's actions—and he let him know his feelings when Samuels came to the crease in the Renegades' run chase, too.

The situation boiled over when Warne flicked an under-arm throw at Samuels, who responded by hurling his bat over the former Australia international's head.

Per Brydon Coverdale of ESPN Cricinfo, Warne was handed a one-match ban and hit with a $4,500 fine after being found guilty of three breaches of Cricket Australia's Code of Behaviour.