Vale Shane Warne

[CakeEater]

His career and life veered between extremes, but Shane Warne leaves a legacy of greatness

As fans reel from the news of his death, it is impossible to avoid conjuring images of Shane Warne that are not sombre and serious at all. How could a "Warnie" moment ever be sombre and serious, writes Russell Jackson.

www.abc.net.au

Ripping obit from Russell Jackson well worth a read

 

[Father Jack]

I just finished watching the Fox special, and I must say it was very good, almost like a bit of therapy. I didn't think I even liked Warnie all that much yet here I am as upset as if he was someone I knew personally. I'm a bit confused by it all to be honest. I suppose he did give me some of my best ever moments watching cricket, watching as he'd clean up the Saffers or the Poms on a fifth day at the Gabba or the MCG, and maybe I did enjoy his rather unique commentary style more than I thought. Either way, I'm genuinely going to miss him, and cricket (and summer itself) absolutely won't be the same without him.

 

[The hands of stone]

Thought I would share this story as my wife reminded me of it this afternoon.
One of her friends who is a physio has known SW for years and has some funny stories to tell .

SW had set up for this physio to work at Hampshire on a nice 2 year deal .
After a few weeks of sorting the details the physio is in a cab almost at Tulla when SW calls .

Is in a panic and insists physio needs to get to his place asap to treat his daughters leg who had an accident .
After some back and forth on the phone Physio is heading back across town to Brighton with SW promising to sort all the changes and details to flights .

Physio arrives and treats the barely twisted ankle of SWs daughter with SW frantically pacing around to hear the diagnosis figuring it was a broken leg .

SW than shows his appreciation by walking Physio to wine cellar to ' take a few of whatever you want ' .

Two days later Physio is in Hampshire after an upgraded flight and gets congratulated by club officials for 'saving' the leg .

Had a chuckle when reminded of this . One of many doing the rounds right now would be my guess .

 

[Voice of the G]

The stand being renamed soon was a no brainer even if he lived til 100. Love it.

Should have been named before his passing and he can see how much we love him as a cricketer and a person.

 

[CakeEater]

Should have been named before his passing and he can see how much we love him as a cricketer and a person.

He knew already.

 

[Blue1980]

Should have been named before his passing and he can see how much we love him as a cricketer and a person.

I reckon Warnie was aware, but yeah would of been nice had he been alive

 

[The King!]

The guy was awesome to watch

So many great memories, one that makes you feel genuinely numb and shit, don’t know what to say

I know he had so many great moments especially in tests

But I love the 99 World Cup where he seemed to be the only one who still thought they could do it against south Africa and basically willed the team to win

 

[Voice of the G]

He knew already.

How do you know that?

 

[CakeEater]

How do you know that?

From the response the crowd gave him

 

[Voice of the G]

From the response the crowd gave him

What crowd and what game?

 

[AdelaideGT]

A weird 24 hours for me. Went to bed last night about this time and had only just seen a tweet from Warnie farewelling Rod Marsh.

Woke up this morning to the news he was gone (also on twitter) and wondered if I was still dreaming.

I didn't always like what the man did or said, but I think I always liked him. My Dad was a team-mate of Terry Jenner, so I also felt a bit of a connection due to Jenner's mentoring of Warnie.

On the cricket field I almost liked him more as a batsman than bowler. Though he was a magician with the ball, when Australia needed him to wield the willow, you knew he would always give it his best shot.

 

[AdelaideGT]

Good news for me I guess, being a fat campaigner who cbf dieting or doing any exercise and all.

TBH I’m a bit shocked at people saying he smoked and ate sh*t and boozed a lot and so it’s not so weird he’s gone. Shane looked way fitter and healthier than plenty of blokes his age. It’s so, so young to go even if you’re hitting the piss and smokes regularly.

Well, one of his favourite foods was Heinz Baked Beans, so that's not so bad for your health as food addictions go. And according to those in the know he wasn't even that heavy a drinker (though may have fitted the current definition of alcoholic which is something like two standard drinks a day).

The thing about 'up and down' weight may be a factor though. One of his last tweets was about 'shredding' and losing weight and his son only said a month or so back that instead of proper dieting, Shane used to drink 'Chinese teas' as a way of losing weight. I often wondered in his drug-ban days if the 'Mum's diet pill' excuse was to cover up that he was using diet-pills to reduce his weight.

 

[cats_09]

Love this photo of his statue

 

[frankrizzo]

What crowd and what game?

Think that build up before his 700th sums up how the crowds felt about him.

 

[010203]

Still stunned over 12 hours after finding out. His test debut was nearly 3 years before I was born and it's often been said that he revitalised the art of leg spin bowling, so I owe him a debt of gratitude for wanting to take up leg spin bowling. I did watch the DVD where Richie Benaud chose his best XI and became fond of Abdul Qadir who was discussed on the program as well even though Richie chose Warnie for his best XI.

Warnie will always be synonymous with the 'Gatting ball' and for good reason. It was the ball of the century after all. The spell that set him on his way came in Sri Lanka in 1992 when he took 3 wickets late to win a close test match for Australia. The ball that set him on his way was the flipper to Richie Richardson at the MCG in 1992 en route to a haul of 7-52 as Australia beat the West Indies soundly.

His ball to dismiss Basit Ali on the last ball of a day's play at the SCG in 1996 was a thing of beauty too. I loved the theatre of it too when he had a mid pitch chat with Ian Healy.

His most famous effort in 50 over cricket would have to be his ten overs in the 1999 World Cup semi final against South Africa. In pursuit of 214, South Africa were 0-48 off 12 overs. A bit behind the run rate but nothing to concern the Proteas until Shane Warne started bowling. The ball dismiss Gibbs was a perfect leg break, Kirsten missed a leg break while trying to hit with the spin and in the days before DRS, Hansie Cronje could consider himself unlucky. That one over swung the game and made the Proteas go into survival mode against Warne.

This is always a subjective thing but I think we'd all probably agree that Shane Warne was the best cricketer this country has produced outside of Sir Donald Bradman.


I could watch these flippers all day, especially the one to Darryl Cullinan at the SCG in 1994.

 

[Stokey]

Think that build up before his 700th sums up how the crowds felt about him.

MCG, Boxing Day, 700th. Some scripts just write themselves.

 

[revo333]

Was thinking the same thing with Healy.

Healy has form with this kind of stuff, I think he is just the kind of person who everyone tries to avoid talking to at social gatherings.

Just has a very dour vibe about him.

 

[Father Jack]

I only saw what Healy had to say on the Fox tribute, and he spoke very well on that.

 

[Stokey]

Granted it’s a formality & thoroughly deserved.

Would have thought it was an MCC thing.

It was.

 

[MJG14]

Was incredibly hard to watch Ponting crying on the Channel Seven interview. Got me too.

 

[Plugger35]

Fox closing with Warnie's hat trick against England with the late great Tony Greig commentating.

 

[Plugger35]

Umpire Tony "Minties" Randall playing a part in the hat trick, back when umpires weren't afraid to pull the trigger rather than going upstairs for DRS.

 

[HahnPremium]

Breakfast of champions.

 

[mouncey2franklin]

Jim Maxwell spoke about a couple of the not so pleasant encounters he had with Shane on ABC before. Which I was surprised that he chose to do.

What did he say?

 

[mouncey2franklin]

I was born in the late 80s, so I grew up playing and watching cricket when Warne was at his peak.

Back in U14s and U16s it seemed like almost every team had at least one leg spinner.

And usually their run ins and bowling actions would look similar to Warne's.

He inspired a generation of leg spinners, myself included.

I won my U16 bowling average, bowling leggies.

When I was around 14, Shane Warne's autobiography was published, I got a copy for christmas.

Even though it was 20 years ago now, I still remember certain passages from the book.

Warne had a natural tactical flair about him, like he was meant to play cricket.

News of his death doesn't seem to have 'hit' me as much as many others in this thread.

It may be because I couldn't stand his commentary. And he only seemed to be getting worse.

I guess I idolised him as a kid but kinda outgrew that phase as an adult.

Reading through this thread has been eye-opening, I guess I forgot just how popular Warne is / was.

The 'Warnie' Stand. That's pretty cool tbh. And fitting.