Shane Warne - The average guy who liked a fag, beer, pie

Shane Warne at the launch for a burger called The Legend in Sydney on November 17, 2010. Pic/Getty Images

It's downright ridiculous. You don't even get time to not only process Rod Marsh's demise, but grieve his passing and you find out Shane Warne has had a heart attack and died.

I awoke in the city of Sydney to a string of phone messages that I presumed were condolences for the passing of my mate Rodney. When I looked a little closer I found out it was for Shane. I was already struggling and that put me in a state of shock.

Warne was not only a champion leg-spinner. I also found him to be an exceedingly generous person and a very honest bloke. He gave generously of his time to kids and went beyond the recommended in talking to kids as he autographed their offered item.

A generous soul

His generosity knew no bounds. As captain of a winning side in the Caribbean I was asked to put together a group of my guys from 1973 to match a team from Mark Taylor's 1995 winning side in the West Indies. As a director of the Com-Tech company this was one of my most pleasant tasks.

There was no problem getting either side together and David Shein the Com-Tech CEO endowed both teams with expense money for the trip.

When it came to Warne he refused the cheque on the basis that he didn't need the money. When Shein pressed him to accept the money he simply said: "Any mate of Ian Chappell is a mate of mine and he never accepted the money."

I've seen Warne first-hand not only sign a plethora of autograph hunters lined-up, but also chat to the bulk of them. He didn't just make idle talk, he actually chatted to them about stuff they were interested in.

I once saw Warne walk into a room full of business people who all knew the leg-spinner's name. He wandered over to the first bloke who'd never met him, held out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Shane.""Mate," I chuckled afterwards, "they know who you are. You don't have to introduce yourself."

That was Shane. He didn't see himself as a superstar. "Aw mate," he'd say, "I'm just an average guy who likes a fag, a beer and a pie." Warne didn't have a radar set. This probably got him into strife at times as he was always surprised if he'd been photographed out on the town. He always felt he was just having a night out like any other normal bloke.

His diet was atrocious. As part of his contract with Channel 9 he stayed in the same house for the 1996 Masters golf tournament at Augusta. He came with a group of us to an Indian restaurant near the course and despite his protests I ordered for him.

The only meal he'd agree to was plain chips. When they came he ate one and accused me of ordering chilli to go with the chips and said he was going out to get a pizza. When he came back 20 minutes later I accused him of stopping for a cigarette and he eventually admitted he'd had a fag while he was out.

My wife Barbara-Ann who has studied nutrition, once told Warney he'd have to adjust his abominable diet. Shane was put out by the suggestion, but unfortunately Barbara-Ann was proved right.
Warne was an aggressive cricketer who impressed with his excellent thinking on the game. He produced the ball of the century to dismiss England's Mike Gatting and a myriad of other excellent deliveries which netted him more than 700 Test wickets.

Doing the impossible

Former Test fast bowler Rod Hogg, writing in the now defunct Melbourne Truth, declared before Warne had represented Australia: "The leg-spinner will take 500 Test wickets."

"You're an idiot," the editor barked and sacked Hogg, because he said: "no one will take 500 Test wickets."

I suppose if you're being pedantic Warne didn't claim 500 Test wickets.

Warne relied a lot on the help of former Australian leg-spinner Terry Jenner. TJ was good at communicating and saw Warne through some tough times. Even when Warne collected only one expensive wicket on debut, TJ wanted to know what I thought of his bowling. "Don't be fooled by those ugly stats," I said to Terry, "he bowled a lot of good balls. He'll be okay." Never did I imagine just how good he'd be.

Like Dennis Lillee before him, Warne had the fans on the edge of their seat because they felt every time he had the ball something would happen.
Marsh loved Lillee and most others who played aggressive cricket. That's why this week has been so hard. It's bad enough to lose Rod Marsh, but to also have Shane Warne pass away is too much.

Please can I just grieve in peace for a while.