Warne’s generosity and a great show!

Keith, father of Shane Warne, speaks during the state memorial service for the former Australian cricketer at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 30. Pic/AFP

A cricket books lover and collector of cricket memorabilia was at the receiving end of some touching generosity from an overseas friend, post the death of Shane Warne.

A packet containing a signed copy of Shane Warne: My Illustrated Career arrived for him all the way from New York earlier this week.
Who in this age would part with a Warne-signed book, wondered the beneficiary. Valid question, simply because the value of a signature of a deceased celebrity is priceless.

And while he thought about this again, he realised that the gesture was akin to the kind of generosity Warne displayed throughout his life.
The departed leg-spinning great was known to be big-hearted when it came to pulling out his purse or be forthcoming with his time for people less fortunate than himself.

During the state memorial service at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last Wednesday, his father Keith spoke about how once he had just picked up Shane from the airport after one long overseas tour. During the ride, Keith told Shane about a Melbourne-based kid who was suffering from cancer and that he longed to meet him. Shane asked Keith to call the kid's father to check if it was fine for him to arrive at their home to meet the boy. They ended up going there, spending a couple of hours with the kid before Keith drove Shane to meet his own kids for the first time after the tour.

Keith provided more examples of his son's generous spirit. He delivered a moving speech but he didn't choke until the last bit when he quoted his son's words that summarised his life - "I smoked, I drank and I played a
little cricket."

Keith Warne's could well have been the best tribute of the evening amidst a whole lot of spoken words at the G; the term Warne often used to describe his home ground.

Around 54,000 people were at the MCG which played host to a great show to honour their favourite son.

Having been fortunate to visit Melbourne across three tours Down Under I couldn't help thinking how great this Victorian city has been for sport across the ages. Remember, it hosted the 1956 Olympic Games, the first-ever Test match in 1877 as well as the 100th one in 1977 and two World Cup cricket finals. Remarkably, it raised its game as it were, each time, just like it did on March 30 to do justice to the magnitude of the event.

Melbourne is a city with a heart. I remember how proactive the entire region got when it came to collecting funds for the 2004 tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. A Cricket Asia v Rest of the World game was organised there after just 12 days of planning and Warne was very much part of that action.

Before the game, Richie Benaud told viewers how Warne wanted to be part of the match and had said, "I'm in that game," even though he had retired from limited overs cricket.

Warne even flew down to tsunami-ravaged Galle to help fellow spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan with his relief work; the trip emerging after just one question, "What can I do to help?"

At the memorial service, Andrea Egan of The Lion's Share, a United Nations-backed Wildlife conservation fund, spoke about how Warne had hopes of "rewriting the future, protecting animals and their habitat" when he joined the programme in 2021. She added: "Shane was a man of his word. He was generous. He used his fame to lean into The Lion's Share at this most pivotal time for the planet."

Following Egan's short speech, Chris Martin of the group Coldplay appeared on the screen singing Yellow for Warne in Central America.
The people behind the Warne memorial need to be handed out the biggest of accolades. How fortunate his Melbourne-based fans were to be able to buy tickets and witness a great show. I can't imagine this happening in India especially the part about the people behind the show having a pre-event press conference to spell out plans for the evening.

Former Australian Rules football player, a close friend of Warne, Eddie McGuire knew what he was talking about when he said before the memorial: "This is going to be one of the great events in the history of the city in this country in many ways, a tribute to a champion."

Normally, farewells in Australian cricket are associated with the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Rodney Marsh, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Shane Warne…all bid farewell to Test cricket at this venue. But the MCG will go down in history for giving Warne the best farewell in the form of that splendid memorial service last week.

Shane Keith Warne inspired countless kid cricketers to become leg-spinners. He set the benchmark for superlative performances with the ball and off the field, he set high standards when it came to generosity. Men of his ilk and fame will find it hard to match this, but they must, be it with their charity work, involvement in social causes or just an autograph which that collector, mentioned at the start of the piece, will treasure forever.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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