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An Tarbh
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Originally posted by BBC Sport
Shane Warne is being tipped to announce his retirement on Thursday from international cricket.
According to reports in Australia, the 37-year-old leg-spinner will walk away from top-level cricket after the fifth Ashes Test, to work in television.
Warne is one wicket away from becoming the first bowler in Test history to claim 700 wickets, with the fourth Test starting on 26 December.
TV station Channel Nine says Warne will hold a press conference on Thursday.
Cricket Australia says it does not have any plans for a Warne press conference, but Warne has worked part-time for Channel Nine in the past, and the TV channel says the legendary spinner will announce his retirement.
"There is nothing we can say," said Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young.
Young, referring to Warne and the fast bowler Glenn McGrath, added: "Those two players are the masters of their own destiny and the owners of their own futures and when they announce decisions on their futures is up to them."
Warne said in his column in Sydney's Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that he had no plans to quit.
But the Sydney Morning Herald claimed he was retiring to become a television commentator and the Daily Telegraph subsequently carried the retirement reports on its website.
Warne's Hampshire team-mate Shaun Udal said he had not heard from the Australian great but hoped the retirement would only be from the international game.
"If this is true, I would love to see him finish the next two or three years with Hampshire," said Udal.
"But I'm sure Warnie will go out in his own inimitable style."
The fourth Ashes Test takes place on Warne's home turf, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and is expected to break the previous attendance records of 90,800 for a single day and 350,354 for the whole match.
Spinner Warne, who was named one of Wisden's five cricketers of the century in 2000, became the first ever bowler to reach 600 wickets during the 2005 Ashes series.
He has 25 more Test scalps than his nearest rival, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, although he has played 33 more games. Aussie team-mate Glenn McGrath is next in line with 555.
Will be interesting to see how true this is considering Richie Benaud told him during the last Ashes that he saw no reason why he couldn't play until the 2009 Ashes, and Warne's reaction was pretty much well if Richie thinks that then I'd better give it some serious thought.
I would hope that working in television means commentating on cricket though and not some cheesy reality show or chat show.