Went to the G today. Quite a few there to pay their respects. A few tears, a few smiles, a few laughs. RIP Warney. The Greatest I ever saw and probably will ever see.
1 Like
Same year, wasnāt it?
Never has the death of a sportsman/celebrity affected me in this way. Iāve found it hard to focus the last 30 or so hours. Cried multiple times. My only 2 heroes Iāve ever had are Shane Warne & James Hird.
I hated cricket with a passion before taking notice of Warnie. If it wasnāt for him thereās every chance Iād still be avoiding Cricket like the plague. There was simply no better sight in world Cricket than Shane Warne walking in to bowl. A beautiful bowling action (Something that I think is under appreciated) The immense spin, the accuracy, the variety. He was the master.
Warnie single-handedly revived the dying art of Leg Spin bowling. In an era dominated by pace, Warnie made spin bowling cool again. Everyone wanted to bowl spin all of a sudden, all thanks to him. He took the most difficult skill in all of Cricket, and mastered it in a way no one has before, or since. You can easily rattle off the names of many great fast bowlers. Or batsmen. But when you mention Leg Spin bowling. Only one man comes to mind. That is why to me, he is the greatest of all time. And based on pure impact on the game, he may well be the most important.
But Warnie has always been about so much more than just his spin bowling skill & wicket taking ability. Warnie was box office. He was theatre. He was drama. Watching a spell from Shane Warne, you got your moneyās worth. He understood that although yes itās a sporting contest. But Itās also entertainment. Youāve got thousands in attendance who have payed to see this, so you need to try and put on a show for them. You are centre stage. No one understood that more than Warnie.
I still think what is often overlooked about Warnie is his ability to evolve. He had arguably the most lethal ball in all of Cricket in āThe Flipperā and essentially lost all ability to bowl it properly after shoulder reconstructive surgery. Imagine taking away a bowlers biggest weapon? yet when he returned he was no less effective & no less dangerous. In fact he came back with the āSliderā. Another super effective ball. Overcoming finger surgeries where he lost all of his āFeelā for the ball in his hand. Overcoming shoulder surgery. Overcoming a 12 month ban (Self inflicted or not) and to keep performing at the top level & keep dominating. He really was a freak of nature.
His on field banter, his mind games & his psychology all added to the fun & joy of watching him at work. No one more entertaining than Warnie. Tactically there were few better, which shows just what a freak of nature he was. An amazing Cricketing brain.
I think Shane Warneās legacy is that there will never be another one. We will never see the complete package that Warnie was in a Cricketer ever again. Heās irreplaceable.
Rest In Peace King.
21 Likes
Flemo would remember the straightforward slips catch he dropped that denied Flemo his second test hat-trick.
And the one he dropped off KP in the last test of 2005. We probably win that if that catch is held. Those two were definitely in the easier class of slips catches, because theyāre at at such a good height. Catch itā¦or wear it!
Greg Chappell and Mark Waugh far more reliable slippers.
2 Likes
Yep, Warne, McGrath, and Langer all retired in the first days of 07 and Hird and Sheedy left Essendon at the end of the 07 season. Sport, generally has never felt the same, possibly with the exception of watching Mitch Johnson dominate the 13-14 ashes and Smith in the 19 ashes. Those were fleeting, previously weād become accustomed to sustained, otherworldly levels of performance from guys we all followed.
2 Likes
Perhaps the 99 is fitting as although a different stat, he shares it with Don Bradman.
4 Likes
Havenāt even begun to sort this out in my mind. Absolute gut punch after loosing Rod Marsh so soon. We were supposed to get at least another couple of decades with Warnie around.
Family has accepted Vic Govt offer of a State Funeral.
3 Likes
Warnie made cricket fun to watch when he was bowling. Test or one dayers. So many great memories barracking for Warnie to get that crucial wicket. Has always been my favourite all time cricketer with Deano an Ponting not far behind. Going to miss Warnieās jokes an stories, just the way he would be himself an let his bowling do the damage. Legend. Still canāt believe heās gone.
R.I.P Warnie
1 Like
Very similar to DK- come back after injury, weaker but smarter, and keep taking wickets.
Edit @smooth beat me to it
1 Like
Always had a laugh when at the start of a tour, heād come out with a new āmystery ballā to torment the opposition with. And pretty sure there was none at all. But the commentators would go along with it, and the mental disintegration of opponents would continue. And the myth would continue. He really showed just how much a champion is above the shoulders and not below.
3 Likes
He never really had an effective wrong-un , yet for several years the flipper -a tougher ball to bowl and control - was absolutely lethal. And in fact, I donāt recall anyone else before or since bowling the flipper. Richie Benaud knew and spoke about it , and I think that was part of the Warne mystique - he hadnāt just revived an almost lost artform in legspin, but he also hauled out a mysterious delivery from history that mesmerized cricket audiences everywhere.
Red posted above about that Cullinan dismissal. That was an astonishing delivery, he could actually get a hint of swing on some flippers. But the other thing that stuck with me forever on that bit of play was Benauds commentary. He suggested the short ball earlier in the over was a deliberate bait to the batsman, and warned ( no pun) of what might be to comeā¦
Greatness everywhere in that dismissal.
And now Iām sad that theyāre all gradually leaving us.
10 Likes
I remember Richie getting excited when Trevor Hohns bowled a guy with a flipper. Was it the 1989 Ashes series?
1 Like
For all the kids he inspired to try spin bowling or play cricket heās inspired a whole new generation of older guys to get their hearts checked.
You always thought he was indestructible and when you learn he isnāt he realise your not either.
Myself and a few friends have booked check ups.
3 Likes
Tears
5 Likes
So after processing it for a couple of days, I figure Iāll add my take. Warne is pretty much āmy generationā, heās a couple of years older than me, but I was an adult by the time he is came on the scene, whose cricket days were long past him. (Iād lost interest after being overlooked for a Hatch shield berth after a couple of weeks training at the StK ground at Moorabbin in a season where I was dismissed once as a batsman and was clearly a better leg spin bowler than the son of the selector who bowled wild leg spinā¦but thatās another story). As I also grew up in the same general area as Warne, I had that sort of connection, without ever knowing him at all.
Anyway, given I was no longer a kid when he came on the scene my view of him is probably different to what it might have been, bit still he was a hero. Aus cricket before Warne was struggling along, some good results, some poor results, some great players. But Warne made all the difference. Bowlers win matches and he was the best. Probably the best ever (donāt come at me Mr DāSilva, now is not the timeā¦). When Warne was bowling you had to watch, a wicket was never far away, and the whole vibe of the match became tense and on edge. No one was going to get hold of him, and the wicket was coming soon, either by way of Warne, or by way of the batsman doing something stupid at the other end. It was Warne that really made test cricket at a time when one daters had become a real threat. And then he proved that you could bowl leg spin in one daters as well.
He clearly had a reputation as a bit of a wild child, and that probably cost him the captaincy, which was probably as big a loss to cricket as anything, because he was clearly a genius cricketing mind, and the few times he got to captain sides demonstrated that.
I still donāt know what happened with the PEDs, but in the end his general charm and charisma won everyone back. And thatās the thing. For all the āwild childā image, no one is going with āsaw him at the pub off his face acting like a #$@$#ā. Iām sure thereās people that he got off side, bit most stories seem to be āhe was happy to chat and give me timeā.
I only met him the one time. I was sitting on the balcony at a golf club having a post round drink with a mate and an Indian restauranteur who had a restaurant in Chapel St. (In the building that was to become Viper room. A big Essendon fan btw 
). Warne walks out of the bar scorecard in hand about to head off for his round. Me and my mate were in awe, but the restauranteur was not going to let him walk past, especially not with Warneās first tour of India approaching. āShane, Shane how are you goingā¦ā. He stopped and had a chat for 5 or 10 minutes, happily giving his time when he didnāt need to. Listening to all the stories about how he had no idea what it was going to be like in India, and how he had to be prepared to be treated like a god. That and how the course was playing.
Anyway, it was only 5 minutes or so, but left an impression, because he didnāt need to do it.
Anyway, that was my meeting Warney story. Obviously there are a million people who have those stories, and it is sad that there wonāt be a million more. Because he was the best cricketer since the Don, and obviously was better because he was a Victorian! RIP.
21 Likes
CAC Score test seems to be the best predictor.
Not Medicare covered though.
1 Like
Yeah there are probably hundreds of thousands of Aussie blokes just like Warney in terms of putting immense strain on the heart with diet, drinkin and darts.
2 Likes
Not sure itās been mentioned in here.
But ABC news is reporting that the MCG are renaming the Southern Stand to the āShane Warne Standā.
Ponsford Stand, SK Warne Stand. One of the greatest ever players of spin bowling (by reports) right next to the greatest spin bowler of all time. Thereās something really nice about that.
2 Likes