Sydney - Terry Jenner became known as the spin doctor, but to his star pupil Shane Warne, Jenner was Dr Phil.

According to the Australian Associated Press (AAP), Jenner, who helped turn cricket on its head by unlocking the potential in the chubby frame of a young Warne, died on Wednesday aged 66.

"TJ became my Dr Phil on all matters and levels," former world-record holder Warne wrote on his website, www.shanewarne.com on Friday.

"Wherever I was around the world we would call and chat. We would plan to bring down the opposition batsmen, laugh and I would hang up feeling good.

Warne, who retired from Test cricket in 2007, described a tearful phone conversation he shared with Jenner a few weeks ago.

Jenner, who played nine Tests in the 1970s, suffered a serious heart attack in England in 2010.

"Sometimes in the latter years we wouldn't talk as often as we should have but whenever we did chat it was like we had spoken the day before," Warne said.

"When I spoke to TJ on the phone a few weeks ago we said goodbye to each other.

"It was a very difficult thing to do and chat as it was so unlike all our others - this was it for the last time after 20-odd years.

"We both didn't say too much as we both didn't need to - we just knew.

"We both shed a bit of a tear and said goodbye ... Not easy!"

Jenner had started coaching Warne at the national cricket academy in Adelaide back in 1990.

"TJ, like his fellow players of that era, are very straight and also very blunt - the best way to be in all aspects of life - no bullshit or fluffy rubbish," Warne said.

While the young Warne needed a guiding hand, Jenner was also on a rocky path after serving an 18-month jail term for stealing money from his employer to pay gambling debts.

"We met at exactly the right time in each other's lives," Warne said.

"We were good for each other. Maybe all the stars and moons were aligned, because we clicked instantly."