MELBOURNE: Legendary Australian leg spinner Shane Warne died on Friday. He was 52.

Warne’s management released a brief statement in the early hours of Saturday (AEDT), that he passed away in Koh Samui, Thailand, of a suspected heart attack, reported Australian media outlets.

“Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived,” the statement said. “The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course.”

Shane Warne was one of the best leg-spinners to have embraced the game. Warne scalped 708 wickets in his illustrious career which spanned 145 Test matches. Warne played 194 One Day Internationals for Australia in which he scalped 293 wickets.

The right-hander was also handy with the bat as he scored 3,154 runs in his Test career. He amassed 1,018 runs in the 50-overs format. The leg-spinner was known for his guile bowling and took a total of 1001 wickets. He became the first-ever bowler to scale the peak of 1,000 international wickets.

The news is the second devastating blow for Australian cricket within 24 hours with fellow great, Rod Marsh, also dying on Friday having suffered a major heart attack last week.

(With inputs from Agencies)