Book extract: How a casino chip could’ve derailed Shane Warne’s career

“HERE is five grand, please take it. I love the way you play your cricket and I’m a wealthy man.” It was the too-good-to-be-true offer that could’ve derailed Shane Warne’s career. In an exclusive extract from No Spin, Warne delves into the Indian bookie saga.

WHEN I arrived in Sri Lanka for the Singer series one-day tournament in September 1994, I was just 10 days or so short of my 25th birthday.

All-up, I was earning about $25,000 a year from Cricket Australia — a figure made up of the retainer contract fee and match payments.

The bigger bucks started to roll in that following Ashes summer at home, from the exciting sponsorship deals I signed with Nike and Just Jeans.

WARNE RULES OUT SELECTOR ROLE

NEW BRIGHTON PAD FOR SHANE WARNE

I love a punt. It never mattered whether I had money or not, it was the buzz that got me.

A couple of hundred metres from the hotel in Colombo was a casino, and I love a casino — blackjack, roulette, poker, I love them all.

Best of all, like in most casinos, if you gamble you get free drinks. On the first night, I lost five grand. Ouch, that hurt. So I needed a drink.

I was pretty sh.tty about my loss when I went over to join Mark Waugh and a Sri Lankan mate of his at the bar — at least I’ve always assumed he was Sri Lankan.

Mark Waugh and Shane Warne ahead of the press conference on the bookmaker saga.

He was from the subcontinent, that much I know. The guy introduced himself as John. I said, “G’day, John, how are ya?” He said, “Good, mate, good.” It was a five or 10-minute conversation, nothing more than general chat — how’s the cricket, are you looking forward to the tour, blah blah blah.

At the end of the conversation, he said, “I see you like a punt on the roulette”.

“Yep, I love it,” I told him, “but I lost all my money.”

“Oh, right,” he said. “Well, look, I’ve won a lot of money on Australia winning games of cricket over the years. Here’s a five-grand chip to cover you for the money you lost tonight.”

I said, “Mate, I’ve got my own money. I’m fine, thanks”.

He said, “No worries”, and that was that. I went back to the hotel.

You have to remember that back then there was no talk of bookies or spot-fixing and match-fixing. It wasn’t on the game’s radar, not at all — no whispers, nothing. As a youngster, I wouldn’t have known a thing. Actually none of us would, I reckon. This was 24 years ago! There was no clue of what we know now.

The next day we finished training and went back to the hotel. The phone rang in my room — there were no mobiles then — and a bloke asked for Shane.

“Yes,” I said, “this is Shane.”

“Hello, it’s John, I met you last night with Mark. I just wanted to come by, say g’day and have some lunch.”

I said, “Yeah, sure, I’m not doing anything. Any friend of Mark’s is a friend of mine.”

So we had a sandwich in the hotel lobby and he said he’d been thinking about last night. I remember his words pretty clearly.

“Five thousand dollars is a lot of money. I want to give you back the $5000. No strings attached, no nothing — here is five grand, please take it. I love the way you play your cricket and I’m a wealthy man.”

Warne in action against Sri Lanka. Picture: Brett Faulkner

Warne always loved a punt.

I thought, “Hmmm.” I said, “Mate, it’s very generous of you. I repeat, any friend of Mark’s is a friend of mine, but I don’t need it, so no problem and thank you, I’m fine.”

He said, “I insist, take it, no strings attached, from a friend to a friend.” He kept arguing the case, in the end persuasively.

I took it.

Then I went down the casino that night and lost it again.

I thought, “Sh.t, lost another five grand.”

So we did the tour and I never heard from or spoke to John again. Anyway, having missed the start of the series against the West Indies that summer I got back into the side for the Boxing Day Test.

We were staying at the Hilton just across the park from the MCG and on Christmas morning the hotel phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Merry Christmas, mate.”

“Who’s this?”

“John.”

“John who?”

“I met you in Sri Lanka with Mark.”

“Oh right, how are you, mate, what are you doing?”

“I’m great, thanks. I thought I would just ring you to wish you a merry Christmas and congratulate you on getting back into the side.”

I thought, “How nice is that?”

“Yeah, yeah, and I’m looking forward to the Test match against West Indies,” he added.

“Yeah, should be a cracker,” I replied. “I’m looking forward to it too. It’s great being back in the side — I’m feeling in good form.”

Warne and Mark Waugh were fined $8000 and $10,000 respectively.

Warne and Mark Waugh were told the fines would not be made public.

We had a general chat about cricket. There were no alarm bells when he asked how the weather was in Melbourne. I said, “Fine, bit overcast but should be fine, good forecast for the five days, pitch looks good.”

I kind of chatted as you would to a journo if doing an interview — dry pitch, might spin towards the end of the match, should be good for me, blah blah blah.

“Yeah cool, thanks,” he said. “I am catching up with Junior soon, so I might see you around.”

“Sure, mate, look forward to it. Have a good Christmas and all the best for the new year.”

That was that.

Until six months later.

We were in New Zealand for a one-day competition to mark the centenary of the New Zealand Cricket Council when the tour manager, Ian McDonald, took me aside. He asked if I knew anything about players taking money from outsiders for providing information on teams, pitches and weather. I didn’t, simple as that.

What I could tell him, however, was that I’d been given five grand by a mate of Mark Waugh’s in Colombo back in September, in lieu of the five grand I’d lost at the roulette table. Macca listened to the story, and the more of it he heard, the trickier his position became. In a knowing way, he said that John was the same guy who had a business deal with Mark to provide this sort of information. I remember a bit of a sinking feeling, like, what had I got into?

No Spin by Shane Warne.

We were on the way to the West Indies a few weeks later and stopped off in London for a night or two to break up the journey. Bob Simpson and Jack Edwards, a St Kilda guy and the new team manager, pulled me in and asked about my dealings with a Sri Lankan bookmaker. I said I didn’t know any Sri Lankan bookmakers.

Jack said, “Mark Waugh reckons he introduced you in Sri Lanka.”

I said, “Oh, John, Junior’s mate. Yeah, I’ve spoken to him a couple of times.”

As I was telling Jack that John had given me five grand in the casino, his face changed colour. “He did what?!”

Jack said, “The bloke is a dodgy bookmaker who bets on cricket.” I said, “OK, that’s not good news but I didn’t know that when I spoke with him.” As far as I was concerned he was a mate of Junior’s who gave me five grand after I’d lost five grand one night. “I’ve spoken to him a couple of times on the phone and that’s it. I’ve had no other dealings with him at all.”

Jack was in a state, saying, “This is trouble, real trouble.”

I said, “What do you mean? I haven’t done anything wrong here. If someone wants to give me five grand because I lost five grand in the casino, I’ll take the five grand. If he gives me 20 grand, I’ll take 20 if I choose to”.

Jack and Bob said, “No way, mate. This bloke is a bookmaker who bets on the cricket and Junior told us he has a business deal with him”.

“Well, I didn’t,” I told them. “I had some general chats about cricket with him, like I would with any journo at any time.”

They just said again, “Oh no, mate, this is bad”.

So this time I started sh.tting myself, thinking, “What have I done? I didn’t know the guy bets on cricket”.

I’d figured he was a gambler and he told me he won lots of money on Australian cricket, but I didn’t know anything about that world. I was 24, for Christ’s sake! Arghhhh! This was not funny. I didn’t understand but equally I began to wonder how I could have been so naive.

Jack said the board had decided to fine us both — me $8000 and Junior $10,000 — which left a very bad taste. He said it was as a warning signal to us and that the fines wouldn’t be made public. Then everything went quiet, as if it was understood that our fault was naivety and nothing worse, and, thankfully, it seemed as if the ACB had decided to move on.

Edited extract from No Spin by Shane Warne, published by Ebury Press, October 1, rrp $49.99.

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SIGNINGS

Shane will be on hand for book signings throughout October. Catch him at Dymocks, Collins St, and WH Smith, Southern Cross, October 19; QBD Geelong, October 20.