Shane Warne, the only current cricketer in Wisden's top five of last century, said on Thursday he was still fathoming out the mysteries of legspin bowling.

"I'd like to understand a lot more about legspin bowling," he said in a surprising remark from a man considered the art's finest exponent.

"I still have a lot to learn there," he said. "I think I know how to bowl legspin, I don't say I know everything about it, but I know what I'm actually trying to do now. In years gone by I just knew how to bowl a leg break, I didn't know when and why to bowl one."

The top five in Wisden's list were Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs, Warne and Sir Vivian Richards .

"Sir Shane has got a good ring to it," Warne said before breaking out in laughter. "But I don't think that will ever happen."

He recently surpassed Dennis Lillee as Australia's most successful Test bowler and his legspin has been a key cog in Australia's record-winning streaks in one-day and Test matches.

"Sometimes you just don't believe it's all happening," Warne said.

"It's sort of happening in fast forward, everything in your life is going full-steam ahead in fast forward and sometimes you just need to take a step back and take it all in and enjoy it."

Warne leaves on Saturday with the Australian team for three one-day fixtures in South Africa before venturing to England for a season of county cricket with Hampshire.