One of the joys of having several different formats of the game of cricket is that one can retire more than once. Such is the case of Shane Warne.

His retirement from Test cricket - along with that of Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer - reduced the 2006/07 Ashes into one long farewell tour.

His retirement from ODI cricket was not so well orchestrated. The plan was to retire from one-dayers for Australia at the end of the 2003 World Cup. But that was before he was sprung illegally taking his mum's medication.

Yesterday, Warnie confirmed what we really should have understood for a few months, when Hampshire CCC announced his retirement from first-class cricket, because of his "many other business and charitable activities". The writing was on the wall from the moment he announced his unavailability for Hampshire for the 2008 Twenty20 Cup to play professional poker.

Cricket historians will fiercely debate for years to come whether Warne's retirement from Hampshire to play poker surpasses Phil Tufnell's retirement from Middlesex to appear in "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here".

Dates and venues for the Shane Warne Final Farewell Tour have been announced through till September 2007, and can be viewed at a glance on the Hampshire section of the CricInfo website.

Tour dates for 2008 will be released towards the end of November next year. Tickets from the usual outlets. Be there!