shane warne RIP

[Ken Gargett]

just had a news alert that shane warne had passed from a heart attack at 52. unbelievable shock. the greatest bowler in the history of cricket. unthinkable. i am in shock. do not know what to think or say. 

to put it in perspective for our american friends, imagine tom brady just passed. or for others, lionel messi. it is that much of a shock.

RIP.

spent a few hours with him once. he was a hoot, even if a bit of a bogan. the world is a lesser place. i am devastated by this. as will be millions of cricket fans. 

[CaptainQuintero]

  Just saw this and talk about a shock, I've never been a huge fan of cricket and don't particularly follow it but even then, Warne seemed to be a massive celebrity that transcended the sport of cricket and bled into other spheres. Never seemed to be off the news in and around 2000, him, Beckham and Johnny Wilkinson seemed almost a constant fixture on TV back then, a heavyweight sportsman

[amberleaf]

As a pommie bastard who spent nearly two decades watching him rip through England's batting order, I'm devastated. An absolute master of his craft and a joy to watch. I remember how by the 1990s leg spin was pretty much dead, then Warnie came along and then all the kids wanted to be a leggie. RIP.

[Webbo]

Oh no! Simply best bowler ever. RIP

[Vortigan]

Horrendous news!! Right up there with the greatest cricketers of all time. Certainly the greatest spinner there's ever been (often unplayable!) and not much argument, if any, against him being the greatest bowler of any type! Always very engaging and good to listen to in his subsequent media career too!  RIP  🌹

[Chucko8]

RIP SK Warne. 
Just devastated!

[Vortigan]

1 hour ago, amberleaf said:

As a pommie bastard who spent nearly two decades watching him rip through England's batting order, I'm devastated. An absolute master of his craft and a joy to watch. I remember how by the 1990s leg spin was pretty much dead, then Warnie came along and then all the kids wanted to be a leggie. RIP.

I remember once hearing a commentator saying that Shane Warne could turn it square off a sheet of glass...I believed it! 

[JohnS]

Hold on...I was just watching his 80 minute biographical special a week ago. And now he has since passed on? I am in shock! 😧

[99call]

Jesus...........I watch news feeds day in day out, or famous faces dead and gone, and it without being heartless does feel like a conveyor belt......but this is genuinely shocking, one of sporting histories all time greats, and a great character to boot. 

One of those people you can't imagine ever dying......really really stunned. 

[JohnS]

Sorry, still dwelling on this and I am in a state of shock. If you follow cricket then you'd know that we will no longer get his outstanding insights via commentary while watching games. I just can't believe it! 😧

[99call]

5 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

the world is a lesser place

Yep, even 1000s of miles away, it feels like the atmosphere as lost a certain spark or edge.  First person in a long time that I've though "thats not right, that just can't be true". gutted

 

7 minutes ago, JohnS said:

If you follow cricket then you'd know that we will no longer get his outstanding insights via commentary while watching games. I just can't believe it! 😧

That and the fact like many said,  he didn't mind showing you how he did it, or if the batsmen could pick him,  the deliveries were just too good.    It take a special talent, that are happy and confident to be so transparent in what they do.     He knew he couldn't me mimicked of matched...... he was just too good. 

[RichUK]

Terrible news. RIP.

[MoeFOH]

A massive shock. I'm still in disbelief. Greatest bowler ever and 2nd only to the Don in the annals of Australian cricket. 

A brilliant cricket mind and a rogue character who loved the game, still had so much to offer.

So sad. RIP Warnie. 🙏 

[westg]

Showmanship charisma and unparalleled talent. Brilliant commentary ,if you could be someone for one day , I have always said I would be Shane Warne . 

Cricket will never be the same . 

[Vortigan]

1 hour ago, 99call said:

 ...he didn't mind showing you how he did it, or if the batsmen could pick him,  the deliveries were just too good.    It take a special talent, that are happy and confident to be so transparent in what they do.     He knew he couldn't me mimicked of matched...... he was just too good. 

Legend has it that Mike Gatting still wakes up in the middle of most nights with that bewildered look on his face and muttering "But what? How? Nahhh....huh?" 

[El Presidente]

Thanks for the ride Warnie. You had me mesmerised, be it your cricket genius or your off field shenanigans, you had an absolute crack at life.  Cheating on  Liz Hurley , bribing a kid $50 when you were caught  smoking a durry while under $200K contract with the Govt QUIT campaign, photos of the London threesome in those Playboy undies.. 

You have reminded me to live every day as if it were my last. 

Thank you  

[joeruby]

Unbelievable loss for Australia and for the world.
 Gone to soon..

RIP WARNEY.

[JohnS]

I don't normally repeat myself like this...but sorry, I woke up this morning on Sunday and I'm still in shock. I can't believe this at all!

On the other hand, I must admit that our dear S.K. Warne was quite the larrikin. El Pres nailed it in the post above. I think Ken Gargett would agree that he was the modern Australian version of Keith Miller, character-wise.

[Ken Gargett]

10 hours ago, JohnS said:

I don't normally repeat myself like this...but sorry, I woke up this morning on Sunday and I'm still in shock. I can't believe this at all!

On the other hand, I must admit that our dear S.K. Warne was quite the larrikin. El Pres nailed it in the post above. I think Ken Gargett would agree that he was the modern Australian version of Keith Miller, character-wise.

very similar in many respects though i would venture to suggest that for all his misbehaving and larrikinism, warnie was a better person than miller ever was. 

[MoeFOH]

33 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I don't normally repeat myself like this...but sorry, I woke up this morning on Sunday and I'm still in shock. I can't believe this at all!

On the other hand, I must admit that our dear S.K. Warne was quite the larrikin. El Pres nailed it in the past above. I think Ken Gargett would agree that he was the modern Australian version of Keith Miller, character-wise.

Same experience for me, too, John. I still can't really believe it. The shock is something akin to Ayrton Senna dying, but with Senna you at least had the sort of slightly alleviating knowledge of his sport's inherent danger to help rationalise things. 

That said, I guess Warnie had something of an F1 lifestyle. 

Still, 52 just seems way too soon. 

[Shatner's Bassoon]

My favourite ever sportsman (and I’m English, and cricket is by no means my favourite sport). An absolute genius, who I have spent many years watching live, and many hours watching on YouTube binges. This is from the guardian in the uk:

“Cricket is a bitchy, unforgiving world. But nobody out there has a genuine bad word to say about Warne, from teammates to opponents to people who met him along the way. Quite the opposite. Instead the memory is of his abiding generosity.”

Just devastating. 

[Bill Hayes]

2022, WTF!

[Duxnutz]

I’m still reeling from the news and sat in the park yesterday with a carlotta from last year watching cricket highlights. For mine, Shane was the epitome of a forgone era that some of us might miss; a spade was a spade and he didn’t apologise one iota for who he was. Truly remarkable for 2022. 
 

Anyhow, I’m trying to watch this doco of him in the states but for the life of me can’t get around Amazon region B.S. Using a VPN and no dice. Anyone got any ideas? 
 

 

[99call]

I was chatting with my brother the other day, about why the deaths of some people hits so unexpectedly hard.   With Shane Warne many have gone on such a varied journey with him. Personally my first memory of him was Ashes crowds trying to humiliate him, and then eventually seeing him dancing with a wicket in his hands, trolling the trolls with his success. 

Many non-Australian, have gone from 

- Writing him off before he even started

- Sensing he was an emerging threat, and trying to derail him with abuse

- Awe......the the seismic impact onto the worlds stage has he demonstrates the true level of his un-paralelled talent. 

- The return of frustration, the feeling of unfairness.....almost like 'whats the point in even trying!?'.   a vague feeling of antipathy towards him, like he's ruining a sense of competition

- I realisation regardless of which country you support,  you were stupid to be frustrated with him brushing your team to one side.  Talent like this is a rare spectacle, you have to enjoy it, soak it up.

- The perfect imperfection.   That Japanese principle, that greatness is transcended, when a flaw is seen.  The man that he was, a real human, subject to getting stuff wrong, insightful. funny etc etc. 

As with the Aussies on FOH, and the people you're seeing on TV, I think many fans have been really shocked at how all at sea the news of his death has made people. I think when you draw someone into your conciousness or that their sporting life has punctuated events in your own life, it is like loosing some part of yourself, you feel as if a grey cloud of fragility and impermanence has loomed over memories of victories and losses. 

You feel as if he deserved that long life as the retired gladiator in the comms box.  I'm amazed that even as a casual cricket fan, I still can't quite believe he's gone, surreal

 

 

[Ken Gargett]

one off my fave warnie stories involved that ball of the century.

they had a warm-up game v ?? and the english batsman, graham hick was playing (for me, one of the great flat track bullies). allan border gave warne instructions. you bowl nothing but standard ordinary not every impressive leggies. nothing else. not just to hick but to everyone. 

but skipper...

shut the *&^&*^ up. you bowl nothing but standard ordinary leggies. no wrong-uns, no flippers, no big fizzers. you pitch just outside off spinning an inch or two away. absolutely nothing else or i'll take you off immediately. you show them nothing. 

warnie was not too happy and went for about 0-250. hick got 180 or something similar. came off and then told all in the dressing room that this bloke was all hype. nothing to worry about. easy pickings. the english batsmen would not have a problem with him. 

i gather that the person as shocked at the ball of the century as gatting, a few days later, was hick.