Tim Bloomfield, Mike O’Conner and myself could tell something serious had happened from the bewildered look on David Nash’s face as he listened and disbelievingly muttered to the person talking to him on his mobile phone. And when David eventually hung up the three of us, in unison, fearing that a personal tragedy had hit the Nash family, asked David: “What’s happened, are you okay?”
Nashy just said: “Shane Warne’s dead.”
The response from a couple of us across the lunch table was: “Don’t be so bloody stupid.” Our reasoning was that things like this don’t happen to Shane Warne. Sadly, almost immediately, the dreadful news was confirmed and within minutes we all started to receive calls and texts.
Those of us that knew Shane realized he led an unbelievable chaotic existence but to each of us he was a bullet-proof figure, a force of nature that occasionally suffered setbacks and always returned more energized, confident and opinionated, and with a larger presence than before. The news completely changed the tone of the conversation around our table. All of a sudden we all felt a little more vulnerable. If it can happen to him……………………………
Even now, a week after hearing the devastating news, cricket is still coming to terms with the fact it has lost its greatest showman. During his stellar career Shane may not always have generated the headlines cricket desired but the quality of performance he produced, the drama and profile he created for himself and the game meant the positive column will always be significantly larger than the other.
For someone who has not spent any time playing cricket in the streets of Mumbai, Rawalpindi, Chittagong, Dunedin, Durban, Bulawayo, Kingston or Kandy, or played backyard cricket in Darwin, it is almost impossible to quantify the impact Warne has had on the game at grass roots level. What is for sure is that he is one of the most remarkable athletes this planet has produced, a figure that sits at the same table as Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Maradona and Usain Bolt. Shane Warne was huge.
The England cricket team first came across Warne on the 1990/91 Ashes tour. After the first Test in Brisbane and in preparation for the one-day series that was about to begin the England team travelled to St Peter’s College in Adelaide to play a couple of 50 over games against the Australian Cricket Academy. The Academy side, under the guidance of Rod Marsh, another icon of Australian cricket that has sadly left us too early, contained a number of future greats including Justin Langer, Damian Martyn and Greg Blewett. It also contained a certain SK Warne.
If I am being honest I did not leave the matches believing I had witnessed the coming of a new superstar. I vaguely remember Marsh saying that the leggie they had ‘had a bit of something about him’ but that was it. Warne’s figures of 0-9 in 4 overs and 1-42 in 6 overs did not catch the eye.
My next vision of Warne was in 1993 when, with his first ball in Ashes cricket, he bowled Mike Gatting with the ball of the century. With that mesmerizing delivery the face of cricket changed forever. From acorns do great oaks grow?
Cricket has had and will continue to produce great characters but never had one been as apparent from such an early stage of their career. To those of us watching at Middlesex he out Tufnelled Philip Tufnell, and that was saying something!
When spectators watch an athlete possessing the artistry of Warne perform few appreciate the work and time they have spent developing and perfecting their skills. The ability to unerringly pitch a fast spinning leg break on a good length doesn’t just happen, and despite a seemingly carefree attitude to training Warne would have worked incredibly hard to develop the consistency and box of tricks he had.
The dexterity he had was remarkable, and I was lucky enough to witness this at very close quarters during an end of Ashes drinks session in the Australian dressing room in January 1999. Warne had been injured for all but the final Test in Sydney and despite Australia retaining the Ashes he had had a frustrating series.
The social session lasted for several hours and for a period I was in a group chatting with him. The conversation turned to him, his fitness and his bowling.
One of the things about Warne is that when he was around a cricket ground he rarely seemed to not have a ball in his hands, throwing it up and giving it a rip. Warne was talking about the problems he was having with different deliveries and, whilst sat talking, was tossing the ball up in the air and catching it, going through his repertoire. The amazing thing was that he was looking at and talking to us as he tossed the ball up and, each time, it lobbed up to the same height and landed in the palm of his other hand.
It was like watching a magician at work. Had anybody else tried to do the same the ball would have been flying all over the place. It was mesmerizing and brilliant and when I caught the eye of the other England player I was with we looked at each other thinking the same thing – this fella is working on a different planet to the rest of us.
Cricketers are a big breed and Warne is a taller man than many think. He is powerful too. When you shake his hand you realise how big and strong his hands and forearms are. I don’t know whether that was natural strength or the result of the thousands of balls he bowled, but when you watched his face at the moment of delivery you could see the amount of effort he put in to every delivery. The art may not look taxing but spinners need to be strong people.
In sport there are thousands of fit, strong, hard-working and gifted athletes but the one area where many fall short is the desire, the absolute desire, to compete with an opponent no matter the conditions or match situation – to never be defeated – and this is where Warne was magnificent. As we know there were times where Warne pushed this competitiveness too far and an ugly confrontation ensued but, on more occasions than not, it added to the theatre. And making each ball an event was another of Warne’s skills.
The routine of most bowlers is like a conveyor belt – you run in, bowl, follow through, walk back to your mark in a semi-circle and walk in to your next delivery. Warne, however, stood still at the end of his mark with arms by his side for a second or two composing himself before pressing GO and starting his beautifully controlled eight pace run up. And when he pressed GO the world seemed to stop for a moment because we all knew anything could happen in the next couple of seconds and you didn’t want to miss it.
Picking instances that highlighted Warne at his best is difficult because there are so many but two stand out to me. The first showed his skill and confidence, the second his desire to compete.
Alec Stewart will never be allowed to forget the moment he became the victim of one of Warne’s greatest Stings during the first Test of the 1994/95 Ashes. Warne took 8-71 in England’s 2nd innings but it was the dismissal of Stewart, who he bowled with a flipper, which stole the show.
No other international bowler I know has shown confidence in his ability to such an extent that they were prepared to offer the batter up a couple of boundaries in order to set them up for the killer blow. Yet Warne did just that with a couple of filthy long-hops that were cut by Stewart for four. On the third occasion Stewart moved to play the same shot to a ball that appeared just the same as it came out of his hand. The difference was it was a flipper – a quicker ball released from the front of the hand – not a filthy leggie and it bowled Stewart neck and crop.
There are two things that will always make me chuckle about the ball. The first was Stewart’s bat coming down like a guillotine, the second Stewart then sitting high up in the Stand behind the bowlers arm watching Warne bowl through a pair of binoculars. To say he was bamboozled would be huge understatement.
The second occasion was during the 2006/07 Ashes Test at Adelaide. England scored 551-6 in their 1st innings, with Warne taking 1-167 off 53 overs. Australia replied with 513 and the game seemed to be moving to an inevitable draw on the final day as England moved to 69-1. But Warne failed to relent. He failed to give the game up, pushing and challenging England with every over. And eventually England did succumb to the pressure Warne created and his 4-49 in 32 overs, was the performance that allowed Australia to win a remarkable game of cricket.
The closest England have come to a Warne in recent times – a spinner that guarantees control in the first innings and becomes a match-winner in the second innings – is Graeme Swann. Such figures allow a team so much flexibility in selection and for Australia it allowed their all-conquering side to play four bowlers and to have a player of Adam Gilchrist’s quality coming in at seven.
Away from the stage he dominated and the limelight Warne was to me a humble and pretty normal bloke. Yes, he had a view on most things but he never talked about himself or what he had achieved.
Despite being the cricketer that has led the most glamorous of lives Warne was a bit of a cricket badger. This was because his love for cricket was genuine and he took a great interest in what was taking place in the game.
Shaun Udal, a good friend of Warne’s and the then Middlesex captain, invited him to speak to the Middlesex squad when he was in London. It wasn’t the fact he spoke well that impressed, it was the time he had obviously taken to understand what Middlesex were about and where we were as a club. He know Middlesex were like Victoria, in that we were tenants at a wonderful venue, and he spoke about how Victoria managed the situation at the MCG.
There is a saying that time is the only thing in our lives that is limited and Warne was extremely generous to people with his time, especially those he got along with. The support he gave and had promise to give to The Ruth Strauss Foundation was considerable
I never went out with Warne socially but met and chatted with him when our paths crossed. And this happened on a few occasions in the past couple of years when he was the Head Coach of London Spirit, Lord’s team in The Hundred. You always knew he was about because his voice was strong and recognizable and on most visits he would stick his head in my office for a chat. He would ask about Middlesex and how we were doing and he knew that we had been having a difficult time and the players that played for us.
Warne was brilliant with my son Alex too. Alex is the analyst for London Spirit and he managed him superbly. He made him feel a valuable member of the support staff by asking for his advice on players and listening to what he had to say. London Spirit had a disappointing first year in The Hundred and Warne had been working closely with his staff to correct the wrongs. Sadly he will never have the opportunity to do this.
Whilst cricket slowly comes to terms with Warne’s death the condolences of the game will continue to be extended to his family. And what else is there to say about a man who has provided so much joy to billions of people? Thank You.
Our thanks go to Angus for writing this moving tribute to a genuine great of the game.
