All or nothing: warning signs were there for Shane Warne

Shane Warne complained of chest pains days before his death and recently completed an extreme 14-day liquid-only diet ahead of a planned three-month work break.

Shane Warne salutes the crowd after taking his 700th Test wicket in the fourth Ashes match between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26, 2006. Picture: Getty Images

Paramedics have revealed how they battled in vain to revive cricket legend Shane Warne as his friends shouted: “Come on, Shane.”.

His mates also gave CPR after finding Warne, 52, unresponsive in his Thai villa. He died soon after ordering a new suit and calling two Thai masseuses to his holiday villa, police said.

A TV was showing the Australia-Pakistan Test match as friends tried desperately to resuscitate him after a suspected heart attack.

Warne had suffered chest pains before leaving his homeland for the Thai island of Ko Samui for a week’s holiday with friends.

A paramedic who was one of the first on the scene, revealed Warne was unresponsive when he and a colleague arrived at the Samujan resort.

Anuch Han-iam told The Sun Warne’s friends were doing CPR and he took over while they waited for the ambulance.

“They were desperate. I think one was crying. They were really stressed and panicked,” he said. “They kept trying to wake him and I heard someone saying, ‘Come on, Shane. Come on, Shane’.

Warne complained of chest pains days before his death in Thailand and recently completed an extreme 14-day liquid-only diet ahead of a planned three-month break from work.

As his grieving children described their father’s unexpected passing as a “bad dream”, Royal Thai police said Warne’s family told them he had suffered chest pains before arriving in Koh Samui for a holiday, and had seen a doctor about his heart.

The 52-year-old’s long-time manager, James Erskine, said on Sunday that Warne’s secretary, Helen, also told him Warne “had a bit of a chest pain and was sweating” last week.

“He did go on these ridiculous sort of diets, and he had just finished one, where he basically only ate fluids for 14 days and he’d done this three or four times,” Erskine told Nine’s Today show.

Shane Warne’s body is moved from Koh Samui Hospital mortuary on Sunday. Picture: AFP

“It was a bit all or nothing. It was either white buns with butter and lasagne stuffed in the middle, or he would be having black and green juices.

“He obviously smoked most of his life (but) I don’t know, I think it was just a massive heart attack. That’s what I think’s happened.”

Erskine said his colleague Andrew Neophitou, who was travelling with Warne, discovered the former cricketer’s body.

“They were going to have a drink at 5 o’clock … and Neo knocked on his door at 5.15 because Warnie’s always on time. And then he went in there and said ‘C’mon, you’re going to be late’. And then realised something was wrong,” Erskine said.

“He turned him over, gave him CPR, mouth-to-mouth – that lasted about 20 minutes, then obviously the ambulance came, they took him to the hospital, which was about 20 minutes’ drive away … I got a phone call 45 minutes later to say he was pronounced dead.”

Warne had spent the hours before his death watching cricket on TV and planned to go for a drink on Friday evening with friends.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Sunday that the Warne family had accepted the government’s offer of a state funeral. “It will be an opportunity for Victorians to pay tribute to his contribution to his sport, to our state and the country,” Mr Andrews said.

London’s Sun newspaper has reported that Warne’s friends shouted “Come on, Shane” as paramedics battled to revive the dying legend. “Shane’s friends were already trying to bring him back to life,” paramedic Anuch Han-iam told The Sun on Sunday.

“I took over doing CPR while we waited for an ambulance. They were desperate. I think one was crying. They were really stressed and panicked. They kept trying to wake him and I heard someone saying ‘Come on, Shane. Come on, Shane’.”

Koh Samui police said Warne had earlier visited a tailor to have a suit made, and had had a massage in his room. The police confirmed Warne’s body was sent by ferry to Surat Thani at 10am on Sunday for a post-mortem examination after a Covid test came back negative. Blood samples from the bedding and towels in Warne’s villa room were sent to a central police forensics unit in Bangkok, but police believe the blood was the result of the CPR.

Cans of baked beans and beer at the base of Shane Warne’s statue at the MCG in Melbourne on Sunday. Picture: AFP

A spokeswoman at the Koh Samui hospital said a local undertaker would need to help handle preparations for the repatriation of Warne’s body, including embalming and the considerable bureaucracy involved in securing customs clearance for his return to Melbourne. That process can take up to three days meaning it could be Wednesday or even Thursday before his body arrives home to his family.

Deputy Inspector Lieutenant Colonel Chatchawin Nakmusik from Koh Samui’s Bophut police Station told The Australian a toxicology test would be conducted as part of the post-mortem examination but results “could take months because there are other cases as well”.

Inspector Chatchawin reiterated that there was “nothing suspicious, no sign of forced entry” and the blood found on the floor of his room was a result of the CPR conducted on him.

“There was no blood from any other wound,” he said.

Erskine, speaking on Fox Cricket, said Warne had recently told him he wanted to take a year off work but “I said there’s no way you can have a year off, they’ll have forgotten about you by a year”.

Warne agreed to a shorter three-month absence and was on the second day of his break when he died.

The Warne family had granted power of attorney to the Australian consul-general and the embassy, which would co-ordinate repatriation, he added.

Erskine spoke to Warne’s three children, Jackson, Brooke and Summer, as well as former wife Simone Callahan. “I think the three children are in complete shock … Jackson just said ‘We expect him to walk in the door. This is like a bad dream.’ ”

Erskine said Callaghan and Warne’s father, Keith, were naturally “shattered” and “can’t believe what’s happened”.

“I think that’s what happens when you have a sudden death you’re not expecting,” he said.

“One minute the kids are talking to him every day, the next minute they can’t talk to him and they start thinking he’s not going to be there for my 21st, he’s not going to take me down the aisle. Those things go through your head. They are having a much harder time than anybody, really.”

Warne’s death triggered an outpouring of grief across the globe, with his former fiancee, actor Elizabeth Hurley, posting: “I feel like the sun has gone behind a cloud forever. RIP my beloved ­Lionheart.”

Former Australian cricket captain Greg Chappell, a close friend of Warne, said he and his friends were concerned about the impact of Warne’s smoking but was adamant he “didn’t do drugs”. “He didn’t need drugs, he was high on life,” Chappell said. “He didn’t actually drink a lot. Probably the one thing that most of us as friends worried about was that he did smoke, and he enjoyed a smoke.”