Friday, March 04, 2022, turned out to be one of the busiest days in international cricket. The ICC Women’s World Cup kicked off in New Zealand, Virat Kohli took the field for the 100th time in Tests and history was being written in Rawalpindi as Australia were playing a Test match in Pakistan after 24 years.
A day that was so lively with some interesting games going on in different corners of the world was suddenly marred by a disheartening piece of news. Spin legend Shane Warne had passed away due to a suspected cardiac arrest and the cricketing world was in a massive shock.
According to a report carried out by The Sydney Morning Herald, Warne was watching the first Australia vs Pakistan Test on television before he was found unconscious in a hotel room in Malaysia. He suffered a suspected heart attack, prompting his business manager to perform CPR for around 10 minutes.
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His manager told the Morning Herald that the legendary spinner wasn’t drinking and was about to meet a friend named Andrew Neophitou for dinner.
Warne was holidaying in Malaysia and his stay at a Koh Samui resort was a part of an extended holiday after which he was scheduled to travel to the UK to commentate the English summer of cricket.
“They were meant to meet some people at 5 pm. Neo was next door, he’s always on time,” Warne’s long-time manager James Erskine said.
“He realised he wasn’t well. He tried to give mouth-to-mouth, tried to resuscitate him, he had no heartbeat, the ambulance came 20 minutes later and an hour and a bit later he was pronounced dead [at the Thai International Hospital].”
Erskine further said Warne was last seen about two hours earlier.
“He was on holiday, having a lie-down, siesta, he hadn’t been drinking, he’d been on this diet to lose weight,” he said.
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“He didn’t drink much. Everyone thinks he’s a big boozer but he’s not a big boozer at all. I sent him a crate of wine, 10 years later it’s still there. He doesn’t drink, never took drugs, ever. He hated drugs so nothing untoward.
“He was going to do the things he likes doing. He was going to play in one or two poker competitions, play a lot of golf, be with his kids, that was about it; [to] have time to himself.”
Warne’s manager also said that the cricket legend’s children Brooke, Summer and Jackson were shattered by the news of the father’s passing away. Warne’s father, Keith, visited his grandchildren on Saturday to comfort them after the news broke.
Paying tribute to the spin wizard, he Victorian government has announced that the MCG’s Great Southern Stand would be renamed the S.K. Warne Stand in memory of the leg-spinner. Warne notched his 700th Test wicket at the MCG.
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