Shane Warne’s journey from cleaner’s son to cricket hero with famous friends
Shane Warne will keep having fun and being himself in today’s politically correct world because ‘you only get one crack at life’.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
There haven’t been many sportsmen in their prime more watchable than Shane Warne.
His brilliance on field, coupled with his charisma and persona off it, meant there have been few cricketers or athletes more recognised around the world.
With that ability and profile comes adoration, adulation, judgment and temptation, in a life constantly filled with demands, analysis and speculation, all of which remain years into retirement.
We spoke about family, Prime Ministers, influential figures, doors opening, the Saints, Kerry Packer, Ed Sheeran, regrets and much more.
HM: How do you end up as a youngster, at the future Prime Minister, Bob Hawke’s house?
SW: Ha. My mum owned a cleaning business. Mum had the contract to clean the Hawke’s house as she was friends with Hazel Hawke. She would have started there in the mid 70’s, Bob wasn’t PM at that stage. The Hawkes lived in Royal Avenue Sandringham, and I’d go along with my brother Jason and help mum with the bins. We lived in Black Rock, just around the corner. Then one day, he becomes Prime Minister of Australia, and there we are, still cleaning his house and playing tennis on his court. When we won the 1999 World Cup at Lords, I had a picture with Bob on the Lords balcony, with the crowd in the background. It’s a very special photo to me.
HM: He seemed like a politician you’d love right now.
SW: For me, he was the greatest Prime Minister I’ve seen in my lifetime. He could relate to the public, had a sense of fun and he always seemed to know what the public wanted. He could talk to anyone and generally did.
HM: Of all the exceptional people you’ve met, who has influenced and shaped you the most?
SW: Gee, that’s a good question. I feel extremely grateful and thankful to have met so many interesting, successful and generous people in my life. I think you take learnings from everyone you meet, often without knowing you are. Kerry Packer and Lloyd Williams have had a huge impact on me. From a friendship point of view as well as mentors. Both could talk to the guy on the street, or the President of the US, and they’d talk to them in exactly the same way. They wouldn’t change - I hope I have taken that from them. They’ve both also shaped how I think about my business ventures. I’ve had my sporting life from a teenager to 43 year old, and I now have my business life, my family, and the personal things I like to do and still want to achieve. In all of these four areas, I take what I’ve learnt along the way and try and apply it as well as I can. Now that you’ve asked the question, and I think back, I realise that I’ve taken a lot of characteristics from a lot more people than I realised. I think Lloyd Williams is the most impressive person I’ve ever met.
HM: Being able to bowl a small ball, and make it turn like few ever have before, has opened up a series of doors for you that you would have hardly been able to imagine.
SW: That isn’t lost on me Hame. I think movies and sport gives us an escapism and time to switch off and just get immersed in the entertainment. We all love sport, music and movies. I’m very grateful that cricket found me and as it’s a global sport — so I’ve had the opportunity to live an amazing life. I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to do something they love for a long time. But having said that there where still lots of sacrifices that I made, the biggest was being away from family and especially my children for long periods of time.
HM: The brilliant neurosurgeon, and the doctors and nurses should be the stars?
SW: Of course they should, and they are in my eyes. I was so lucky on a few fronts — firstly, I was told I was no good at footy, and then cricket found me. Then through hard work and dedication I found a spot as one of only 11 players representing Australia and we went on to be the best cricket team in the world for around 15 years. That was a very special time Hame.
HM: And the world opened up?
SW: At times I would think to myself, how did I get here!
HM: Give me an example.
SW: Well, the cricket lover comes in all shapes and sizes from all over the world as it’s a global sport and has just been acknowledged as the second biggest sport on the planet behind soccer. People like Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin, Mick Jagger, Stephen Fry — they are all cricket lovers. In ’93, Charlie Watts, the drummer from the Rolling Stones just walked into our dressing room at Lords, I was in awe because I love the Rolling Stones. Who hasn’t tried to dance like Mick when they’ve had a few! I was about to go over and introduce myself and BJ (Brendon Julian) came over and said, “Who’s the old bloke in our dressing room?”
HM: (laughs) … BJ not as big a Stones fan, clearly.
SW: Clearly. I met Chris Martin a few years after Coldplay had formed in 2000. We just bumped into each other in the lift. We recognised each other as people were getting in and out on different floors. When they had all emptied out, just Chris and I were left. We looked at each other, awkwardly admitted we were fans of each other, and he said ‘Come to my room for a drink’. We’ve become great mates. We went to Vegas together, my family, his family and our kids. We had dinner and watched Michael Jackson’s show. I look at that and think ‘that’s a long way from helping mum empty the bins out’. And it’s largely, simply, because I could spin a cricket ball.
HM: You and I are talking at your kitchen table — Ed Sheeran was here last week. Did you meet Ed through Michael Gudinski?
SW: No, I didn’t meet Ed through the great man. I was staying at Crown with my daughter, Brooke, and there were two big security guys with black T-shirts on in the lift. The had earpieces in. I asked who was in town, but they wouldn’t tell us. Anyway, we get out on our floor, and Ed is there. He is a cricket fan. We get talking, and then Ed says “Do you mind if I take a picture? My father loves cricket”. Brooke couldn’t believe it. She is a huge Ed Sheeran fan. We then went to his gig, and I sat with his dad, and actually ended up doing a net session with his dad. I thought I was going to bowl him a couple of overs and we would go and have lunch. He was a fanatic … it ended up going for an hour and a half at the MCG and I couldn’t lift my arm at the end of it — but it was lot of fun. But Michael, Ed and I had a lot of fun times together. It’s hard to accept he is no longer here as he really was a “one off” and a force of nature. He lived a full and happy life and will be missed a lot.
HM: Michael Gudinski ensured Ed is a Saints man, and you’re a Saints man. When you get a letter from the Saints after your U/19 year saying your services are no longer required at the Club, did you think your sporting career was over?
SW: 100 per cent. I thought the only avenue I had to play sport, professionally, was closed. AlI I ever wanted to do was play VFL footy. I just loved football, above all else. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t good enough. So when that letter came in December 1988 to tell me my services were no longer required, I didn’t know what to do. I was at Moorabbin TAFE, studying accounting!
HM: You don’t look the accounting type.
SW: (laughs) I wasn’t really. But I always have loved numbers and maths, which is good for my poker ambitions. I was studying, but always looking at having fun and looking at opportunities. While I was studying, I realised I was a punter, and a risk taker, and was going to be more of an entrepreneur than a number cruncher. I won $1000 off another student playing poker at TAFE. Their family owned a milk bar up in East Brighton. He couldn’t pay, so I negotiated a credit facility at the East Brighton milk bar. My first commercial deal … I’d come in and get a pack of smokes, milk and bread, and take it off the tab!
HM: You were working while you were at TAFE?
SW: When I left TAFE and I was playing footy at St Kilda, I was delivering beds for Forty Winks. I also worked at Patterson Jewellery, I was a master with signet rings, and I was delivering pizzas on Friday nights. Actually, when I was picked to play for Australia for the first time, in the summer of 91/92, I was still delivering pizzas and still did for the first 12 months of playing cricket for Australia as my contract was only $3,000.
HM: You were let go by the St.Kilda FC in 1988, but you were still playing cricket over the summers — surely you weren’t contemplating playing for Australia.
SW: I was playing cricket in the 3rd’s and 4th’s, so no, playing cricket for Australia wasn’t looking like an option!
HM: What changed – how did you get there.
SW: In 1981, Knowle Cricket Club in Bristol, in England rang Cricket Australia and said, “We would like a professional cricketer to play. Who have you got available?” They said, “Andrew Hilditch, Shaun Graf or Geoff Lawson”. They went for Shaun Graf, the all-rounder. Shaun went and played, got paid, and developed a great friendship with the Knowle Cricket Club. Every year since ’81, they’d take an Aussie, and send over one of their young players to play in the fourth grade at St Kilda. Ricky Gough had played at Knowle, and the club down the hill was called Imperial. He said to me ‘Why don’t you go and play for Imperial and have a year off footy — as I had been offered to play at Sandringham in the then VFA. That’s where I ended up in 1989.
HM: It seems a long way from debuting in the baggy green two summers later!
SW: It was a long way. There was a £5 match payment, and I got my economy airfare paid for. I had to roll the wicket and paint the fences during the week. I came back to Melbourne in the winter of ’89, and made my way into first grade, and then the State squad. We lost the Grand Final for St Kilda, and from there I was chosen to go to the Cricket Academy.
HM: In South Australia?
SW: Yep, for 12 months. I learnt a lot, came home, and then things got rolling at a bit of a pace. I was picked for Victoria, then went to the West Indies in Zimbabwe on two youth tours, and played for Australia the next summer! Within 18 months I’d gone from delivering pizzas and beds, getting a letter saying my services were no longer required to play football for the club I loved, to playing cricket at the highest level for Australia.
HM: This sounds odd, but on debut, you hadn’t even met all of your teammates had you?
SW: No! I hadn’t met half the team! I didn’t know Bruce Reid, Geoff Marsh … in fact I only knew the two Victorians, Merv and Deano, Mark Taylor and Allan Border. I remember standing outside the dressing room, on December 31st, 1991, with my kit bag in hand, almost two nervous to open the door.
HM: Pretty daunting I imagine.
SW: It was! Bruce Reid came out, and I said “G’Day Bruce, I’m Shane, how are you?”.
HM: Quite an odd thought, introducing yourself to your teammates before playing for Australia!
SW: It does seem odd now. It was New Year’s Eve, and in those days, the Australian Cricket Team would get together on the rooftop at the old Sydney Park Royal and we would watch the fireworks. Boony and Geoff Marsh, who I didn’t know at all said, “We heard you don’t mind a beer?” I’d just come off drinking too many pints of beer in England where I had put on 20 kilos! I went from 79kg to 99kg in six months, so I thought I was ready to mix it with these two and make an impression!
HM: 20kg on as a professional athlete.
SW: Ha, yep! The next day after a long night, we had training, and Bob Simpson, our coach, used to have this thing where he’d hit a high ball up, and you had to run after it. He would always make it just out of your reach. “Make a yard, make a yard!” he’d yell. I was in terrible shape as I’d tried to impress the night before. The whole team knew I was in trouble. I ended up on my knees vomiting. It was amateur stuff, but that was my introduction. I was the first young guy to come into that team. Geoff Marsh, Mark Taylor, David Boon, Mark Waugh, Dean Jones, Alan Border, Ian Healy, Merv Hughes, Shane Warne, Craig McDermott and Bruce Reid. I was only 21 years old.
HM: You debuted …
SW: … and I was smashed all over the park. Embarrassed. We won the series 4-0, but I was belted. But, I had a taste and knew that this is was what I wanted to do.
HM: How do you become the best cricketer you possibly can?
SW: During my time in South Australia, in my Academy days, I met Terry Jenner. TJ loved a beer, and he was bit of a rascal too. I worked with him. Our recollections of when we first met at Adelaide Oval are quite different. I say I pulled into the car park, came out and said, “Hello Mr Jenner”. He said, “You drove in with a dart hanging out of your mouth, music blaring, and did a doughnut as you parked”. We struck up a great friendship. He became known as the “Spin Doctor”.
HM: You called him up asking for help after things hadn’t gone as you’d hoped?
SW: No. I jumped in my car and drove to Adelaide, unannounced! I stopped off at the bottle shop, bought a slab of beer, and headed to TJ’s. I knocked on his door. He said “What are you doing here?” I said, “Mate, I want to be the best cricketer I possibly can and need your help to get me there!”. He said, “What about some notice? And put those beers away. It’s time to go and get fit!” He hadn’t even asked me in. I was about to leave, but then he paused as he was walking inside, turned, and said “Actually, come in — and put those beers in my fridge”.
HM: (laughs)
SW: I put them in his fridge and we sat down. “There are so many cricketers who would love to have the opportunities you have. Some of us never got a second or third chance.” I said “Tell me what do to — I’ll do anything.” He said, “You smoke too much, and you drink way too much — show me that you’re serious. Everyone has invested into you, you’ve done all these tours, you were picked when you weren’t ready. Now it’s your time to repay everyone, and it starts tomorrow!”. I wasn’t giving up smoking — I enjoyed that too much …
HM: … how did TJ take that?
SW: We compromised. “OK — you can’t smoke until you’ve done your fitness work each day”. I agreed. “And no drinking whatsoever — none”. I said, “For how long?” I used to love a beer. He said, “Six months”. Done. “I’m going to introduce you to Ian Chappell, and you’ll speak to him. You, me, Rod Marsh, Ian Chappell – you’ll learn a lot from us. We will bowl for so many hours a day at the Academy you won’t be able to physically bowl any more”. Done. The next day I went for a run, didn’t have a smoke, and I got into a routine. I started to get fit, I even flew back to Melbourne for Merv’s wedding, and I didn’t have a drink. I got back to 77kg, bowled for hours a day, did everything right and jumped on a plane to Sri Lanka. I bought a bottle of wine for Rod Marsh and Terry Jenner to say thanks. TJ looked at it and said “We’ll open this at the appropriate time”.
HM: How did you fare in Sri Lanka?
SW: Not good. I got 0-100 in the first innings. In the second innings, they needed 170 to win on the last day, and they were 0-70. Then 2-120. I came on to bowl. I bowled one over, 0-11. We went to tea, and I was sitting on the balcony having a dart, looking out over the ground distraught.
HM: Not the ideal mindset …
SW: Not ideal. I was looking out on the ground thinking to myself, “I can’t train or try any harder and I’m still getting smashed’. Those thoughts of not being good enough came flooding back. Allan Border then came out and sat next to me. He put his arm on my shoulder, and said, “Shane, it’s all going to be OK, you’re doing great”.
HM: And he was right.
SW: It meant so much to me. He knew exactly what was needed. From then on I felt I had the captain’s support, but you still have to believe in yourself. No matter what anyone tells you — until you’ve done it not just once, but a few times, you don’t fully believe you can. It got down to 16 runs or so to win, and Allan Border said “You’re on next over mate”. Shit … I’m getting sweaty now just thinking about it!
HM: This is your second over after going for 100 without a wicket in the first innings, and leaking eleven runs from your only over in the second innings?
SW: That’s right. I take the ball, half terrified it could be all over in my second over … but I bowl a maiden. Thank God! In the next over, I take 3 wickets for none! We win the game. I had 3-11 off four overs. I was so relieved. I felt like I’d contributed to the team.
HM: But you weren’t a walk up selection just yet?
SW: No — at the start of the year in the Australian summer, I was playing quite well for Victoria. Making runs with the bat and taking wickets, but when the first test team is announced against the West Indies, I wasn’t selected. Australia fails to bowl out the West Indies, and it ends up being a draw at the Gabba. Alan Border comes out in the press conference and says, “If the selectors picked Shane Warne, we would have won”.
HM: Confidence boosting …
SW: I was picked for the next test — which was the Boxing Day Test Match in 1992, at the MCG. Against the great West Indies. Players like Desmond Haynes, Curtly Ambrose and co. I take 1-100 in the first innings. Alan Border sent me in as nightwatchman. I was getting peppered, but I got through! I wore a few, hung in there — a small victory. The next day I get out cheaply, and it came down to the last day. They needed 300 or so to win, and I was bowling well and decided to take a risk and set Richie Richardson up with a flipper. I knocked him over and went on to take 7-52. We won the test match. Then, things changed.
HM: The Boxing Day Test match had everyone wanting to know you, and then, within six months the Gatting Ball is delivered, in your first Ashes Test with your first ball.
SW: Yes and just before England we went to NZ, and I’d broken the record in NZ for the greatest number of wickets in a three match series. I was starting to believe I was good enough. When I came on to bowl in the First Ashes Test Match, I didn’t know what was going to happen. I just wanted to try and spin the ball as far as I possibly could to send a message to the Poms. My first ball — the Gatting ball — I just bowled the perfect leg break. I never did again in 23 years of playing. Fluke! That ball changed my life. The guys were calling me Elvis. Life since that day has been very different — nearly 30 years ago !
HM: What changed?
SW: The attention, and focus, and looseness with facts. In England, you don’t fly, so if you want to go from London to Manchester, you hop on the team bus for a few hours! The manager would get all the papers, and all of a sudden there are 27 newspapers in front of you. And I was front page everywhere. You’d pick it up and read, “Ten things you didn’t know about Shane Warne”.
HM: Not all true?
SW: A great surfer – I don’t think so! It was my first introduction into what was to follow, and the different life I’d lead. People fabricating stories and making things up that just weren’t true would be common from then on. That was in 1993. Merv and I would go down for a drink and there’d be 10 snappers following me. I was only 23 years old! There’s no school to go to that teaches you how to handle that when it comes at you out of nowhere. You just have to try and do the best you can.
HM: How did you manage?
SW: It was all pretty confronting and confusing to be honest. What people don’t understand is some of the snappers are rude and aggressive. They’re not just standing there taking a pic, they get in your face to try and get a reaction from you, wanting you to raise your hand up, to tell them to go away, and then they’ll pick the worst picture they get and put it in the papers! I’m not saying I handled all of it well, I bought a lot of it on myself — I made many mistakes, still do. I still get followed with my children now everyday. It’s annoying, and now I understand it’s all part of being in the public eye, but it’s just not fair on my children.
HM: Still?
SW: Sure. All my children have finished school now, which is cool as children at school can at times be horribly nasty. Whatever was happening in my life, they would feel the effects of it. The front and back pages! When I was playing cricket, cricket was my No.1 priority, and not my family. That might sound harsh to some people, but whatever I needed to do for cricket I would do, that came first. That didn’t mean I loved my children any less, but my priority was Australian cricket number one.
HM: Leigh Matthews said when he played, football was No.1, and everything else was a distant second and suffered.
SW: Spot on. I can really relate to that. It’s not like that now for the modern sportsmen or women. My relationships with my children are such that we’ve all got each other’s backs, no matter what and we all love each other deeply — but it’s not always roses, and a lot of those issues stem from the past, and we all work on that constantly. My relationships with my children are very good, and I will always protect them, but I know it wasn’t easy for them growing up. I’m so proud of the way they have developed into beautiful, well mannered young adults.
HM: Do you have regrets looking back?
SW: I don’t have any regrets in my life. Now, given all I’ve done, that might sound odd, but let me clarify why I say that, and why I don’t. I figure given that I can’t change anything. If I allowed myself to live my life wishing that I could change some of the things I did in the past, I’d be in a strait jacket in a padded cell!
HM: So you consciously avoid having regrets?
SW: Pretty much. Some of the things were big, and they affected my family which hurts, and I have to live with that. Obviously I would love to change a few things, and have done a few things differently, and learnt from my mistakes quicker, but as a whole, I don’t regret anything because you can’t change it anyway — it’s also made me the person I am today. I’ve never pretended to be something I’m not, and I’ve always been honest. I’m comfortable with who I am. I have a great family, an amazing group of loyal friends and a great network around me. That’s one of the big things with the modern-day sportsman now more than ever — you need to have the right people around you. When I got divorced in 2005, I was a single parent with three kids that were eight, six and four. I was juggling so much, still playing international cricket, and had sponsors and TV commitments. But I always made their lunches, walked them to school, took them to sport, etc. It was bloody hard — being a single parent is difficult, but fun too. I’m so glad they are 19, 21 and 23 now!
HM: The one thing I imagine would be incredibly difficult early on is figuring out who to let into your camp, given everyone wants in on one of the most famous faces in the sporting sphere. Did you get good at learning who to trust?
SW: Yep, and that was trial and error. I became friends with people I should never have been friends with who were users. That was that mid to late 90’s time where I couldn’t put a foot wrong, and wherever you went, people wanted to hang with you, and whatever you wanted, you got! I got carried away on that wave, because I didn’t want to let anyone down.
HM: That’s your personality?
SW: Yeah, I’m a people pleaser. It took a long time to develop a better shit detector, for want of a better term. I always took people at face value. If someone said,
“trust me”, I would trust them. And I was too trusting, too often. My mum has the best shit detector in the world.
HM: People have their own agendas, and theirs are often more important than yours!
SW: I learnt that. The one thing I still can’t understand, as a single person, is if I have some consensual fun with someone that I meet — how they morally feel they can then go and sell a story about that night for everyone to read. That is just beyond me. I’ve never done it once to anyone, or said anything. I still can’t fathom that someone would betray someone’s trust like that and do that for money, it’s sad. I don’t go out too much any more.
HM: Opportunists everywhere?
SW: Yeah, it’s sad. In these times with social media now, it’s even more difficult for the modern day athlete to have a social life. It’s sad that there are also people out there that want to try and capture a photo of you and misrepresent that pic — but hey, that’s the way it is, so don’t put yourself in that situation. But it is nice to head out with the boys now and again. It’s just disappointing having to live being guarded knowing others’ intentions aren’t what you hoped they’d be.
HM: You haven’t played International cricket for 14 years, but I don’t see the interest in you waning. You seem as busy, and as happy as ever though.
SW: I am happy — really happy. My children are great and happy. Work wise, I’m really engaged and stimulated and have a lot on. We are starting up our Cricket Star Academies which I’m super excited about as we believe there’s a new way of coaching young boys and girls. I think it’s really important that kids get involved in a team sport. That’s nothing against individual sports, they’re cool too, but when you are growing up in a team sport environment, mateship, enjoying other people’s success, knowing when it’s your turn to shine, getting along with people, socialising — it’s a really important part which is missing these days. The modern teenager, or young kid, is on an iPad, on their phone, not actually conversing.
HM: Did you think you’d end up a Gin distiller and in CBD oils.
SW: Life takes you in odd directions sometimes doesn’t it? The Seven Zero Eight gin is going really well and winning awards all over the world. The feedback we are getting is amazing. And the results from those using the CBD Oil which we are about to release shows it’s really helping people. There’s a girl that was having sixteen seizures a day, and three months later — zero. The ointment we’re getting, for ex-sportspeople especially, is improving their movement and mobility and we are seeing great results in the mental health space too. I enjoy being involved in businesses where the products that are created people enjoy, or help them. Let’s not forget advanced hair studio either, we have helped so may people and are still the best in the business.
HM: Yeah yeah! I rang three mutual mates of ours, and asked them to give me one word to describe you. Loyal. Generous. Trustworthy. Fair?
SW: I’m happy with those. I’d throw in “fun” too. Loyalty and trust is something I value big time. If one of my friends needs me, I’m there, no questions asked and no judgments. And I expect the same in return. We all know a lot of people, but when it is all said and done, how many people have you got in your life that no matter what’s going on, you’ll drop everything for? Not many right. Outside of family, I’ve got three or four tops.
HM: If you’ve got three, you’re doing pretty well.
SW: I’m loyal, I’m generous, I’m trustworthy. Lloyd Williams told me something that has stuck with me, from 25 years ago when we were playing golf at the Capital. He said, “Shane, you tell one person, they’ll tell two. You tell two people, they’ll tell three. You think that’s three people?” “Yes” “No. That’s 111!”. A few things got back to me a long time ago, and I realised — time to zip it! Don’t say a word to anyone. It’s hard to find people you trust and can confide in. Sometimes you just want to get things off your chest, have a rant or a whinge and you need someone to talk to. I’m lucky my close friends listen! We had Spud’s game a few weeks ago — “Time 2 Talk”. For us as guys, sometimes it’s hard to talk.
HM: Do you ever get flat? Low?
SW: As with everyone, there are times you feel the need to put on a façade, that “all is good”, but sometimes though, you’re sitting there, and you’d love someone to talk to. I try though, no matter what is going on, that when I wake up, to mentally wipe the slate clean, and have a fresh start. No matter what has happened the day prior. I’d try and wake up and start the day positively. Yesterday is gone. I can’t change what happened yesterday, so let’s have a good day.
HM: It’s a great characteristic to have if you can manage it.
SW: It’s just the way I’m built. I’ve got to thank my mum and dad for that and for so many things. I’m grateful to have such wonderful parents who have been amazing to me. When I was playing, there might have been something off field that wasn’t going great, it might be something in my personal life that was blowing up, but as soon as I walked across the line, I was in my happy place. I was comfortable out there. It felt easier, because I knew what I was doing. I might not have always done well, but I knew what I was doing, as I had the ability to block everything out and just perform. It is a bit like that now — put aside things that affect me, and just find a way!
HM: With your career, it seemed the bigger the moment, the …
SW: … better I went … give me the ball, I want it! I wanted to test myself and prove I could do what was needed of me. It stems back to getting that letter at St Kilda. When I was told at 18 years of age that I wasn’t good enough, and my dream had been shattered, for the rest of my life, no matter what I did, I just didn’t want to fail. I’m not going to be told I’m not good enough again. If anyone tells me I’m not good enough, I’ll show you I am. I was lucky in semi-finals of World Cups, and Finals, that I delivered when the team needed me too. Even a few times with the bat. I’m proud that I helped get Australia to No.1 and we were able to stay there for a long period of time. I like to think that I helped make cricket fun and more enjoyable to watch, plus I always tried to entertain.
HM: Is it right that you and Ian Botham are the only two players in the history of the game to take 300 or more wickets, make 3000 or more runs and take 100 or more catches ?
SW: Yes Hame, that’s correct.
HM: You have made the most runs without a 100 … so when you’re on 99, is it wise to slog sweep?
SW: In my head, I just wanted to sweep along the ground. Because of the adrenaline and everything, I had this almighty slog at it — what an idiot. I choked!
HM: What do you miss most?
SW: Like most athletes, you miss the camaraderie in the group, and it’s similar in the Fox commentary box — you’re a team, and you’re in it together.
HM: Did Kerry Packer gave you some advice on commentary?
SW: He did. The job of a commentator is to enhance the coverage and enhance what the people are seeing. When I first signed with Channel 9 in 1993, KP said to me, “Son, I want you to watch some old cricket commentary, because one day, I want you to work as a commentator. You need to learn how to!” I was only 23, but he was already planning a long way down the track! Over the years I was lucky to form a friendship with Kerry. He and Lloyd have been mentors of mine. We had some fun nights together, the three of us, debating blackjack hands, what to do with a 12 versus a 2, talking about cricket, golf and many other sports — I used to go to his house every six weeks or so, and one day I asked “What do you think are the most important aspects of commentary ? ” He said, “One. Don’t tell me what I can see, we’re not dumb. Two. All of us wish we could be out in the middle, so take me out to the middle and tell me what it’s like. Three. Create debate. And fourth. Let them know you’re having fun”. Stick to them, and you’ll be fine.
HM: Hard to argue with any of them. Before I let you go — three favourite Saints of all time?
SW: Ahhh … I’m going to offend people here … but let’s go for it. Tony Lockett — to me he or Leigh Matthews were the greatest players to play footy. Pluggers’ a God. Trevor Barker was a Saint amongst Saints, and a dear friend. And throw Aaron Hamill in — because he’s one of my best mates and he’ll beat me up when I next see him if I don’t put him in! And I send huge apologies to Lenny Hayes — what a man, what a player — Steven Baker, Rob Harvey, Milney, and Rooey (Nick Riewoldt).
HM: 2020 — what did it teach you about yourself?
SW: I think like many, it gave me perspective. About the way we want to live our lives. Where I want to live. City or country? What’s really important to me? What do I want to achieve? Everyone reassessed their lives, and I was the same. For me now, it’s all about my children’s happiness and continue to try and be the best father I possibly can. And I want to continue to have fun too. That’s all that’s really important now. We all get too serious sometimes, and in this PC world, if you have fun, you’re the bad guy. It’s OK to have fun — you only get one crack at it. Live it the way you want to live it!
HM: Family and fun — good quinella. Steve Smith. Should he captain Australia again?
SW: If I was in charge of Cricket Australia, I wouldn’t make Steve Smith captain. You don’t need a ‘C’ next to your name to be a leader within the team. Steve can lead without it. It’s really important that we develop another leader, so for me, as I’ve said for a few years now, that would be Pat Cummins. Tim Paine has been an excellent leader of the Australian cricket team. If Tim Paine does this summer, he can then hand it over to Pat Cummins. That’d be my plan. David Warner has the best cricket brain in that side, he’s very good tactically, but once again, like Smith, he doesn’t need the C next to his name to be a leader.
HM: Favourite moment in cricket?
SW: Walking out onto the SCG in my first test match, and looking up at the scoreboard — “Congratulations, Shane Warne, you are the 350th test cricketer to play for Australia”. In 150 years or so, there’d only been 349 others that had played test cricket for Australia, and I remember walking out to bat thinking, “350 isn’t very many”. I was walking on the clouds, which is odd, because I never really wanted to be a cricketer, I wasn’t one of those guys where it was a lifelong dream to have this baggy green cap. I wanted to spend my life in a Saints jumper! Once I walked out to play for Australia though, I wanted to do it every day thereafter.
HM: It’s been a big life. There’s eight seats here at your kitchen table. You’re filling one of them. Fill the other seven for dinner.
SW: Anyone?
HM: They have to be in your phone.
SW: It’s not the sexy answer, but in the end, it would be Mum and Dad, my three children and a couple of my good mates. They are the most important people in my life. I’m so grateful and so lucky that I’ve travelled the world and still do for poker or for my 708 Gin or commentating, but, when I land at Tullamarine and drive down Beach Rd, it’s just so good to be home. Our weather is better than what people think. There’s something about Melbourne. It’s got a soul, a heart, it’s got character. Whether you like sports, art, comedy, music – it covers and caters for everyone. There’s nowhere like Melbourne.
HM: Life’s good.
SW: Life is great. I’ve had a lucky one and there’s lots more to go, Hame. Thanks mate and Go Saints.
Eye-watering costs families set to fork out for 13 years of schooling
Prep students starting private school this year are tipped to cost their parents the equivalent of three average house deposits in fees over 13 years, forcing many to sacrifice holidays and work more hours to foot the bill.
Massive fail in Aussie citizenship test revealed
Aspiring citizens are failing to correctly answer questions about Australia or demonstrate a basic knowledge of English, sparking concerns Labor has “made a mess of immigration”.