Mentone Grammar players and coaches remember budding leggie Shane Warne

Teammates from Mentone Grammar School remember how Shane Warne ‘used to turn it a mile’ as the team surged through the season undefeated under his captaincy.

Mentone Grammar’s premiership team: Back row: Nick Eastwood, Wayne Fuller. Middle: Steve Ruskin, Stuart Farrow, Raj Krishnan, David Lee, James Whitla. Front row: Craig Chambers (scorer), Dean Jamieson, Shane Warne (captain), Barrie Irons (coach), Peter Smith, David Guazzarotto.

Wayne Fuller doesn’t want to claim too much for his cricket.

He was a handy left-arm spin bowler who played a lot of suburban matches.

But he can say that for one season he bowled in partnership with legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne.

It was at Mentone Grammar in 1986-87 and Warne was captain of the school team, a lively young cricketer on the cusp of a spectacular rise in the game.

Unsurprisingly, Mentone Grammar clinched the premiership that season in the Associated Grammar Schools competition.

“That year we won it, Shane bowled up one end and I bowled up the other,’’ Fuller said on Sunday, still shocked at the death of Warne at the age of 52.

“I won the AGS bowling average with 8.12 but Shane was obviously our best bowler. Even back then he had the wrong ‘un and he also had a real quick one too, like a medium-pacer.

“I always thought that if he had the opportunity to bowl leg-spin he could go on to play for Australia, I really did. I thought he had that in him.’’

Fuller collected 16 wickets for the season. Warne piled up 32 at 11.84, and made 208 runs at 29.7.

With 413 runs at 59 and a top score of 150, Raj Krishnan was the mainstay of Mentone Grammar’s batting.

As with Fuller, his link to Test great Warne is a source of pride. And as with Fuller, he’s been numbed by his death.

Krishnan often fielded in close to the leg-spinner and could hear the ball fizzing as it approached batsmen.

It astounded him.

“As a junior cricketer he just had this way about him,’’ Krishnan, who went on to play District cricket for South Melbourne, said.

“He was the best player in the team. But no one thought he would end up taking 708 Test wickets!

“He used to turn it a mile and he had a wrong ‘un that kids couldn’t pick. He didn’t have the flipper when he was younger – someone obviously taught him how to bowl it, Terry Jenner maybe – but he did have this big turn. Fielding in close, you could hear the ball fizzing, and I’d never heard or seen that before. His control was there too.’’

Shane Warner with Mentone Grammar coach Barrie Irons.

Krishnan said Warne could spin the ball on the flattest wickets.

“You talk about the Gatting ball, you’d love to have a video of what he was doing with it in school cricket,’’ he said. “If you could hear it, obviously there was that much work on the ball, and it probably was twisting and bouncing and doing all these things.’’

As for his captaincy, “he had this ability to draw people to him and get them to back him … the old cliche about running through a brick wall. I think Ian Chappell is right. He’s the best captain Australia never had.’’

Barrie Irons coached the Mentone Grammar team in 1986-87.

He remembers having a conversation with teaching colleague and future Victorian cricket chairman of selectors Andrew Lynch about Warne.

Lynch asked him how far he thought Warne could go with his cricket.

“I said to him, ‘Lynchy, I reckon he could go the whole distance’,’’ Irons, who taught Warne accounting, recalled.

“He was a very, very good leg-spinner. The key things for him were he was really accurate, he spun the ball and he had a wrong ‘un. And he was always so positive. He felt he was always going to get a wicket. When I made him captain – which came as a surprise to quite a few of the staff – he was absolutely brilliant. There was no talk about winning. It was about winning outright.’’

Shane Warne at a book launch with Mentone Grammar cricket teammate Wayne Fuller.

Warne received a scholarship to Mentone Grammar – coach John Mason had said he could do with a leg-spinner – and Krishnan remembers the buzz his arrival created.

His old brother, Ravi, had told him about Warne’s ability to turn the ball.

His teammates on the 1985-86 team (which won the premiership under Mason) called Warne “Twistie’’ because of his red hair.

Twelve months later he was just “Warnie’’ to the players he captained to an unbeaten season. His leadership of the side was mentioned in the school year book.

“Shane Warne’s captaincy was to be one of the reasons for our successful season,’’ it said. “He believed there was only one way to play the game and that was to attack. He led by example and was able to get the best out of the team. He was justly rewarded with the captaincy of the AGS First XI.’’

Mason said Warne was playing for a Nepean schoolboy side when he came to Mentone Grammar’s attention, and he performed better than anyone could have imagined.

“The boys have told me in subsequent years that I said we had a budding Test player,’’ he said.

“I don’t recall saying that. I know how hard it is to get to the top in cricket, no matter how good you are.

“But when I heard he was going on a tour with an Under 19 team, I thought it could be the beginning of something. Because once they knew about him, I thought the latent talent was there.’’

Irons, Fuller and Krishnan all made another observation about Warne: that no matter how big he got, he never forgot his cricketing roots.

Whenever Fuller asked, Warne would sign memorabilia to be auctioned for a local club.

Krishnan is a pilot and occasionally bumped into Warne at airport terminals. He always walked over for a chat.

“He’d ask what you were doing, how the family was going. That sort of thing,’’ he said.

“A couple of times he was with famous people. He introduced them to me. He never forget the people he grew up with. What saw you saw in public is exactly how I remember him from school. He didn’t change one bit. I think that’s why the public loved him. The public read if you’re inauthentic. And he was totally authentic.’’

In a Test series in South Africa Irons’ parents introduced themselves to Warne. He offered to arrange tickets for them to a Test match.

On another occasion Irons asked Warne if he could run an eye over a leg-spinner he was coaching.

He drove an hour to get there and spent just as long with the youngster.

Irons said he had been deeply saddened by Warne’s death and felt for his family. He remembers the support his parents Brigitte and Keith showed to the premiership team.

“I’m absolutely hollow,’’ Irons said. “It’s a very sad time. Long live the king.’’