Perth:  Shane Warne will get the chance to become the first bowler in the history of Test cricket to take 700 wickets, in the Boxing Day Test against England on his home pitch in Melbourne.

Warne claimed four second innings wickets in the third Test against England at the WACA Ground here, taking his career tally to 699.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting joked that Warne could have written the script for the December 26 Test match himself by finishing this one just one short of the 700 mark.

"What an amazing, remarkable milestone that will be," Ponting said.

"Shane couldn't have scripted the whole thing any better, to be on 699 wickets going to Melbourne.

 "I'm pretty sure he won't be looking to do any training whatsover just in case he gets injured going into that game. It couldn't have worked out any better for him. As we know the crowd down there's going to be huge hopefully 100,000 for the four or five days each day down there.
 

"I know I'm looking forward to that game and with Warney sitting on 699 wickets I'm sure he's looking forward to it immensely," he said.
 

Warne's remarkable career has spanned almost 15 years since his debut as a chubby 22-year-old against India at the SCG in 1992.

His figures of 1-150 in that match gave no indication that he would one day be regarded as the best bowler in the history of the game.

He bowled 45 overs against India at the SCG and his only wicket was that of Indian opener Ravi Shastri, who made 206 runs before he was caught by Dean Jones to give the blond leg-spinner the first of his 699 scalps.
 

In the subsequent 15 years Warne has been equal part cricketing genius and equal part tawdry soap opera star.
 

For every achievement on the field there has been controversy off it  controversy that eventually ruined his dream of becoming Australian captain.
 

But despite all his off-field antics, on the field he has kept taking wickets and plenty of them.
 

He redefined the art of leg-spin and made young Australian boys want to be spinners, rather than pace bowlers, changing the way a whole generation of youngsters looked at the sport.

And although he he is now 37, Warne said before the series there was no need to consider retirement if he was still taking wickets.

"I'm probably fitter now than when I started, also I think it's dictated by performances -if you're performing your role in the team well, it really doesn't matter about your age," he said.