Read the first part of Shane Warne's top 100 list

Shane Warne has been mixing with the best cricketers in the world - as team-mate and opponent - since he was first selected for Australia in 1992. The great leg-spin bowler may have retired from Test cricket after helping to regain the Ashes last year, but, at 39, he is still sharpening his skills. Next month he leads Rajasthan Royals, the winners of the inaugural Indian Premier League, in the Champions League. With such a wealth of experience, there is no one better qualified to run the rule over his contemporaries.

Warne has revised and extended his top 50 - which caused a sensation when it first appeared in The Times - for a new book, Shane Warne's Century. In the second and final of our exclusive extracts, he reveals the players that he has ranked from No49 to No1.

His insights into why he came to make his choices and the ability and personality of his select elite, reveal much not only about the intense and demanding world of modern-day international cricket but also his own beliefs about the way the game should be played.

44 Graeme Smith

You can know an opponent as a cricketer but you only start to know him as a bloke when you play in the same side. As it turned out, the Graeme Smith I played alongside for the Rajasthan Royals in 2008 was different to the Graeme Smith I faced in the Test arena. That was the great thing about the Indian Premier League. It brought together players from all countries to share ideas, swap experiences and take the game forward worldwide. We had a laugh and a joke about the things we had said in the past. They sounded quite funny looking back. I know he has a few regrets, but, all credit to him, he sees the funny side.

Any flies on the wall when we shook hands for the first time in Jaipur would have been disappointed. A few of the media had stirred things up, speculating whether we would be able to work together - as if teams are always made up of your 11 best mates. Well, it was easy. I just said: ‘G'day, Graeme, how are you?' And he said: ‘Great.' That was the reply I wanted to hear. We started talking about cricket, life, India in general and how the Royals could go on to win the tournament and although Smith was unfortunately injured for the final, he had a big impact on and off the field to help us get there. His experience at the top of the order was crucial, and his leadership was always spot on as well.

At Test level, I reckon Smith could now be on the verge of something pretty special. South Africa have the makings of a side that can challenge Australia. I am still not convinced by their spin options, but in the seam department Dale Steyn has had a lot of success over the past 12 months, and Morne Morkel is genuinely brisk and is going to be a handful in Australia.

As captain, Smith's job will be easier with two genuine wicket-takers in his armoury. Overall, I really enjoyed Graeme's company, and it was nice to clear the air. As far as talent with the bat is concerned, he's got lots. I am looking forward to the South Africa tour to Australia in 2008-09; it's going to be a great contest.

35 Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag is one of my favourite batsmen in world cricket today and one of my favourite personalities. This is a guy I would pay to watch. All right, he could get caught at third man to a big slash or a top edge in the first or second over, but he could just as easily bat for an hour in a way unmatched by anybody else in the world. You take pot luck with Sehwag, although the fact that he averages more than 50 in Test cricket shows that his style pays off for him more often than it does for most other batsmen with the same approach. Only Don Bradman and Brian Lara can match his achievement of scoring two triple-centuries in Test cricket, and the second of Sehwag's, against South Africa, came at better than a run a ball.

Off the field, I find him to be a really funny guy. Jeremy Snape told me a great story about him while we were working together in the Indian Premier League. Sehwag and Snape were batting for Leicestershire against Middlesex when Abdul Razzaq started reverse swinging the ball in the way that the Pakistan bowlers do.

Sehwag came up to Snape and said: “We must lose this ball. I have a plan.” Next over, he whacked that ball clean out of the ground, forcing the umpires to pick another from the box that would obviously not reverse straight away. To which Sehwag said: “We are all right for one hour.” Smart, I say.

33 Kevin Pietersen

There is no doubt in my mind that Kevin Pietersen can become the best batsman in the world. There will be no doubt in his mind, either. He's not far away now! He has bags of confidence, and, let's be honest, he has a lot to be confident about. Not many batsmen can average almost 50 in Test cricket but still look as though they are capable of better.

Pietersen is not exactly inexperienced, but he took to international cricket so quickly that it's easily forgotten that he made his Test debut as recently as 2005. People might assume that he started earlier, because most players need at least a year to find their feet. I would say that he is still learning about the game and is yet to reach his peak.

As long as he keeps his feet on the ground and remembers all the bits and pieces that go along with playing in a team rather than an individual sport, then there is no limit to what he can achieve. He certainly has the motivation and drive to keep improving. He's hungry and wants to become the best.

Not many players over the past 20 years have been better at tearing an attack apart. Pietersen can destroy you in a session and change the course of a game like Brian Lara or Adam Gilchrist. In fact, he is like Lara in that he strikes boundaries in clusters. The switch-shot against New Zealand in the one-day series in 2008, when he changed his stance to bat left-handed as Scott Styris ran in, underlined what he can do. I predict there is more to come. To pull off a stroke like that is only part of the story. He had to think about it, convince himself he could pull it off, practise and have the courage to play it. He would have looked a bit silly if it had not come off, but the thought of failure does not cross his mind.

He prepares well for games and is very fit and has a good attitude to batting. However, like all of us, he does get nervous. For a very good player, he can be vulnerable early in his innings. You need to have your wits about you at the non-striker's end when he is trying to push a ball into the field to get off the mark. It was interesting, too, that he did not hold a single catch during the 2005 series. That suggested a bit of anxiety.

I was interested to see how he would get on in Australia in 2006-07 on pitches with more bounce, because bowlers had tried to test him with the short ball. He was still England's best batsman. I don't think he has an obvious flaw in his technique. As a bowler, you just have to concentrate on your own plans knowing that if you do the right things consistently, you have a chance of getting the wicket - it just becomes a question of when.

There was always plenty of banter when we came up against each other. The media made a big thing of it - understandably, I guess - and things did get genuinely heated from time to time. He wasn't very impressed at Brisbane when he had to sway out of the way when I threw in a ball to Adam Gilchrist. There was nothing nasty intended, and we shared a joke about it afterwards. He understands that cricket is a game best played hard, and he isn't shy of making the odd comment out there himself. As well as being a fine batsman, he is a proper competitor.

I think he is now in his best position: four in Test cricket and three in the one-day side. You want your best batsmen in those important slots, and he has learned the responsibility of playing there. Since his incredible introduction in 2005, he has gone on to score runs in all conditions. If anybody was crazy enough to think that his innings at the Oval was a one-off, Pietersen has proved them completely wrong. The captaincy could be the making of KP as he now has to become a giver and try to get the best out of the players and his team. It is a really interesting time, and I will keep a close eye on him from afar. That he is now settled off the field will also help him to progress.

26 Steve Waugh

When I ranked Steve Waugh somewhere in the 20s for my list in The Times, it caused a bit of a stir in Australia, though Waugh himself was fine. People tried to suggest there was a problem between us when in actual fact we are friends. They also accused me of jealousy because he succeeded Mark Taylor as captain and I was appointed vice-captain.

That wasn't right, either. So it is nice to have an opportunity to write about Steve in a bit more depth and maybe set a few things straight once and for all. First - and most importantly in a book in which I'm trying to evaluate cricketers - there is no doubt about his ability as a batsman. He was a tough, uncompromising player whose captaincy was all about leading by example. We had incredible success under his leadership, and I'm not disparaging him by saying that he inherited a side that was used to winning under Mark Taylor and included some top players. I hope that can be taken at face value and not as some backhanded criticism.

Over his career, he averaged more than 70 in England and almost that figure in the West Indies. As captain and vice-captain for a period, we spent a lot of time together talking about cricket. I was his deputy when we won the World Cup in 1999, a great effort after a low-key start to the tournament. It was interesting to be in those selection meetings and various other discussions and listen to his views on the game. There is no doubt that we had different outlooks, but these were matters of opinion rather than cases of being right or wrong. I am pretty aggressive about the way I play the game; Waugh took a more conservative approach, and he wasn't a big risk taker. You could see that in the way he batted. However, square of the wicket, he and Robin Smith were the best in the business.

He was also the king of the one-liner, with a good sense of humour. He was good for the odd comment in the field. He liked the gully position, and from the slips we could hear everything he said. He always went especially hard at Nasser Hussain. As soon as Hussain came in, Waugh would start talking about his dodgy technique and question his place in the side. That always made us laugh. Hussain could get wound up without much of an invitation, and I think we all thought he was a pretty easy target who got too emotional.

Mike Atherton also copped a bit from Waugh, who would say things like: “Do you think you'll manage to get it off the square today?” Atherton was the opposite of Hussain and quite similar to Waugh in that words didn't really bother him. One of Waugh's great strengths in the middle was his concentration. He reached 150 against all nine of the other Test countries at some point. Averaging over 50 was important to him as a symbol of being considered a very, very good player.

As said, I was surprised at the reception I received when I put him in the 20s in my Times list. He really was a good player, and like other good batsmen he improved as he went on. His position in Australian cricketing history is assured, and his figures are in the book, along with the wins we achieved under his captaincy. All in all, Tugga was a wonderful cricketer, who I think got the best out of himself, and that's all anyone can ask.

1 Sachin Tendulkar

The great Sir Donald Bradman said that Tendulkar at the crease was the closest in style he had seen to himself. That statement caused a great deal of interest in Australia and around the world. Tendulkar and I had the honour of being invited to Sir Donald's 90th birthday.

It was fascinating to see the pair of them together, both small men, talking about different grips and bats and approaches to batting. There was enormous mutual respect between them. Some of the conversation was quite technical, but Bradman was sharp as a tack. He was amazed when Tendulkar told him that he had been coached as a boy, because Bradman thought that he batted like a natural. Tendulkar was even more surprised when Bradman told him that he had prepared for a day's cricket by spending hours in the office before play in the morning. In those days, even the greatest players had jobs outside the game.

Tendulkar has a touch of genius about him. But I wonder if people appreciate the amount of time he spends working on his game. Sachin plans well before every tour. Before our tour to India in 1998, he had the nets deliberately roughed up outside leg stump so that the practice bowlers would be able to replicate my spin from around the wicket.

Another example: before the last Test of the series in Australia in 2003-04, he thought he was vulnerable when cover driving because something was slightly awry with his technique. The cover drive is a bread-and-butter shot for most batsmen, but Tendulkar decided for the final Test at Sydney that he could not afford to play it. He stuck to his game plan for hour after hour and scored 241 not out, with not one cover drive - amazing discipline. That is mental strength.

In this book, I will say frequently that footwork is the key to being able to play spin and for that matter all bowling. I make no apology for repeating myself because it is just that important. Tendulkar is the best in the business. Being quick and decisive means that he either goes all the way forward or back on the crease, but doesn't get caught in two minds. That helps his shot selection. He rarely sweeps. Once a batsman is in the right position, anything is possible: defend, attack or leave alone. I have found it difficult at times to deceive him because he reads the length and the spin so quickly! That is an advantage of being brought up in a land of so many slow bowlers, at least traditionally. I thought that his reflexes would start to slow over time, and perhaps the grind of playing so much has begun to take its toll with injuries, but even as recently as 2008 he scored 150s in Sydney and Adelaide - those innings brought back a few memories while I was watching on television, very happily retired, thank you.

The top 100

100 Jamie Siddons

99 Andrew Caddick

98 Graham Thorpe

97 Shahid Afridi

96 Sourav Ganguly

95 Moin Khan

94 Devon Malcolm

93 Arjuna Ranatunga

92 Monty Panesar

91 Graeme Hick

90 Inzamam-ul-Haq

89 Jack Russell

88 Mushtaq Ahmed

87 Gary Kirsten

86 Ian Bishop

85 Chris Gayle

84 Simon Jones

83 Paul Reiffel

82 Craig McMillan

81 Greg Matthews

80 Darren Berry

79 Mark Boucher

78 Stuart Clark

77 V. V. S. Laxman

76 Shane Watson

75 Mahela Jayawardene

74 Shane Bond

73 Mike Gatting

72 John Wright

71 Darren Gough

70 Richie Richardson

69 Alec Stewart

68 Jonty Rhodes

67 Harbhajan Singh

66 Hansie Cronje

65 Carl Hooper

64 Shivnarine Chanderpaul

63 Daniel Vettori

62 Mike Atherton

61 Desmond Haynes

60 Mike Hussey

59 Craig McDermott

58 Andrew Symonds

57 Tim May

56 Damien Martyn

55 Mohammad Azharuddin

54 Michael Vaughan

53 Mohammad Yousuf

52 Brian McMillan

51 Chris Cairns

50 Stephen Harmison

49 Dilip Vengsarkar

48 Dean Jones

47 Robin Smith

46 Justin Langer

45 Ravi Shastri

44 Graeme Smith

43 Kapil Dev

42 Stuart MacGill

41 Sanath Jayasuriya

40 Stephen Fleming

39 Michael Slater

38 Michael Clarke

37 Bruce Reid

36 Allan Donald

35 Virender Sehwag

34 Shoaib Akhtar

33 Kevin Pietersen

32 Darren Lehmann

31 Waqar Younis

30 Andrew Flintoff

29 Saeed Anwar

28 Shaun Pollock

27 Jason Gillespie

26 Steve Waugh

25 Andy Flower

24 Brett Lee

23 Kumar Sangakkara

22 Martin Crowe

21 David Boon

20 Rahul Dravid

19 Aravinda de Silva

18 Merv Hughes

17 Jacques Kallis

16 Adam Gilchrist

15 Matthew Hayden

14 Graham Gooch

13 Anil Kumble

12 Mark Taylor

11 Courtney Walsh

10 Ian Healy

9 Mark Waugh

8 Ricky Ponting

7 Muttiah Muralitharan

6 Wasim Akram

5 Glenn McGrath

4 Allan Border

3 Curtly Ambrose

2 Brian Lara

1 Sachin Tendulkar

The Test of time

I should emphasise straight away that I have not picked what I think to be the greatest teams from Australia and the Rest of the World - rather they comprise the best players I never played with or against. It is so difficult to compare players of different eras. The game has changed even while I was playing. As a rule, I believe that a great player in one generation would be able to adapt to any other, but whether Don Bradman would have averaged almost 100 runs with all the advances in modern-day Test cricket, I really don't know. Indeed we will never know, and that is a good thing. What would there be left to talk about if we did?

Greatest Australia XI

Arthur Morris

Bill Lawry

Ian Chappell (captain)

Donald Bradman

Greg Chappell

Keith Miller

Richie Benaud

Rod Marsh (wicketkeeper)

Bill O'Reilly

Dennis Lillee

Jeff Thomson

Greatest Rest of the World XI

Gordon Greenidge

Barry Richards

Viv Richards

Graeme Pollock

Garry Sobers

Imran Khan (captain)

Ian Botham

Alan Knott (wicketkeeper)

Malcolm Marshall

Garth Le Roux

Abdul Qadir

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