On the pitch, in the headlines, and now on stage.

The life and texts of Hampshire cricket captain Shane Warne are about to be given the Broadway treatment with . . . Shane Warne: The Musical.

Melbourne comedian Eddie Perfect is writing a large-scale show that will set the Warney saga into song. The musical will feature well known incidents from Shane Warne's career, says Mr Perfect.

"There's definitely going to be a text-message song. You can't do Warney without the text. The show will also feature some surprises.

"We'd like to have a dream ballet in there. Every musical needs a dream ballet."

The comedian is developing the concept with Sydney actor and playwright Toby Schmitz, seen locally in the short-lived television series The Cooks, and in local films Somersault and The Rage in Placid Lake.

The musical, which Mr Perfect describes as an epic, will be loosely based on Greek mythology, and will include a Greek chorus and gods.

But the news will come as a big surprise to Warne, who took his best one-day figures of six wickets in 20 balls for Hampshire at the weekend in the C& G Trophy against Surrey at Whitgift School as he hasn't yet been told about the planned production!

Mr Perfect said: "I'm sort of scared about him finding out about it, but I'm in two minds. There'll probably be stuff in there that he's not that excited is in there, but there's nothing that isn't true."

Ultimately, he says, the show will be a celebration of Warne's life and will explore the human side of a remarkable career.

"You can be incredibly successful but you can never get everything you want. Something will always be out of your grasp," he said.

Perfect and Schmitz will start a three-month writing period in July.

"I'd like to come out of three months with a workable draft," Mr Perfect says.

n Warne's best ever one-day figures see Sport on Monday inside