By Sam Coulson, The ACS’s 2022 Literary Scholar
On the 5th of March 2022, I was awoken by rapid fire messages from my father and brother. Immediately I knew something was wrong, then after I opened my phone, I just did not believe it. Shane Warne passed away aged 52 from a suspected heart attack. Warne was such an invincible character; you just couldn’t believe this would happen to him.
Warne provided us with many highlights on the field, taking 708 test match wickets and 293 ODI wickets. He had everything, the flair, charisma, charm but he was also immensely loyal.
Sure, he had his hang ups, but don’t we all?
Warne was unapologetically himself, he loved his cigarettes, his beers and of course his baked beans….
Having infamously asked Geoff Marsh for some baked beans to be sent over to India as he felt like something other than the local cuisine, he was sent three tonnes of baked beans and three tonnes of spaghetti all in a big crate with his name on it.
What Warney wanted, Warney got. That was the beauty of him. He was such a character.
Above all else, what stood true was his love and loyalty to his mates and family, which was shown recently when he blasted Cricket Australia and its players for the sacking of his mate Justin Langer.
Warne loved spending time with his beloved kids Brooke, Jackson, and Summer.
He had the ability to rub shoulders with celebrities such as Ed Sheeran and Chris Martin but would treat them the same way he would treat anyone else on the street. That was the beauty of him.
I had the pleasure of watching Warne play in the BBL for the stars and even though it only lasted four overs it was a pleasure to watch the master at work. The way he set the batsman up before he sent them packing truly was a beauty to behold.
Being a younger cricket supporter a lot of my memories of Warney come from replays and stories from older cricketing folk, from the ball of the century to bowling Andrew Strauss through the gate claiming wicket number 700.
“They can’t catch him” Mark Taylor screamed through commentary as Warney ran around celebrating in front of 90,000 fans at his beloved MCG.
He was so passionate about the game of cricket and its future; he was an expert in cricket and in particular the art of leg spin bowling.
Isa Guha put it perfectly stating, “his cricketing brain is what I’ll miss the most.”
Sitting in front of the media room at Blundstone arena during the Test match last year I saw Warney walking back up with his fellow Fox Cricket commentators.
Warney arrived back to the box ten minutes later then everyone else because he stopped for every single person that wanted a photo with him, as huge as his status was, he always had time for other people.
That’s what Warney meant to me.
The way he loved to entertain people, whether that be through bowling a batsman around his legs or whether through dancing with a stump over his head at Trent Bridge.
He was a showman, an entertainer, and a loving father.
Rest in peace King.