Australia opener David Warner has shared a glimpse of Shane Warne’s Stand at Melbourne Cricket Ground as the legendary spinner bid farewell at a state memorial service in Melbourne. Earlier this month, Warne passed away at a resort in Thailand from a suspected heart attack, aged 52. A stand at the MCG was officially re-named after Warne, who in the eyes of many is second only to Bradman in Australia’s long list of sporting greats.
Warner returned to Australia from Pakistan to attend Warne’s last rites as he shared the photo of the stand on his Instagram account.
“RIP king, you will never ever be forgotten #king,” Warner captioned the post.
Some fans attending wore their cricket kit, while others donned Warne t-shirts with emotions running high as they snapped pictures in front of his statue outside the venue.
Earlier, during a media interaction on the Pakistan tour, Warner said that he is planning to attend the legendary spinner’s funeral.
“It still hasn’t really sunk in. When we first found out, we thought it was a joke,” said Warner ahead of the second Test.
“I will be there, 100 per cent. It’s definitely going to be extremely emotional for everyone. There will be lots of people paying their respects. You just look at the tributes from around the world — he has touched millions and millions of people, and from different countries,” he added.
The larger-than-life “king of spin” was honoured at a two-hour service at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with more than 50,000 free tickets handed out. It was beamed live to cricket grounds across Australia and watched around the world.
Warne enjoyed several cricketing feats at his home ground a hat-trick in an Ashes Test against England and the historic 700th Test wicket.
The legendary spinner played 145 Tests in total over a 15-year career, taking 708 wickets, and was also an effective lower-order batsman, with a highest Test score of 99.
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