The ‘King’ is gone but his legacy lives on

Alana King was 11 when she watched Shane Warne take his 700th Test wicket at the MCG. On the day he died, she spun Australia to victory at the World Cup.

Alana King and Alyssa Healy celebrate the wicket of England’s Tammy Beaumont Picture: AFP

Shane Warne was playing blackjack at a casino on an Australian tour of the Caribbean.

I ran out of chips. He gave me some of his. I had a few wins while he lost everything, the daft bugger, but he remained in a jolly mood. Just a game. No-one’s died.

When I went to pay him back, he said “no”. He was calling it a night. I cannot recall his exact words but the gist of it was a shrug of the shoulders and, “I got what I deserved”.

What I really remember was how he saw the humorous and whimsical side to the cards not falling his way. You win some, you lose some. Life’s short.

Fate has more mystery balls than Warne ever fooled a batsman into thinking he had. He didn’t see this one coming.

Never picked it out of the hand. Going to Thailand for “Operation Shred,” he was dismissed in his hotel bed.

You win some, you lose some, the king is dead, long live the king with his name immortalised atop the Great Southern Stand at the MCG.

Life ended up way too short but 52 is not a bad knock when you’ve cheerfully spent most of it going the tonk.

The cricket was on his television when his world stopped spinning. “Rest in peace, King,” Australia men’s captain Pat Cummins said.

Then, just a few hours later, in New Zealand, a leg-spinner with “King” stamped on the back of her shirt bowled beautifully in Australia’s nailbiting 12-run victory over England at the Women’s ODI World Cup.

She turned the ball, the game, another page in her young career. King on her shirt. Bowling leg-spin on the day the music died. Someone grab a pen and write “The” in front of her surname for Australia’s match against Pakistan at Tauranga’s Bay Oval on Tuesday.

The delivery that dipped and swerved and turned for the stumping of Tammy Beaumont would have made Warne and Rod Marsh jump for joy in the great clubhouse in the sky.

Stumped Healy, bowled King. As if Ian and Shane were back in cahoots.

She revealed she was inspired to take up leg-spin as an 11-year-old when she was one of 100,000 Victorians leaping from their seats when Warne took his 700th Test wicket at the MCG in 2006.

“I didn’t realise what I was getting myself into. Leg-spin’s a pretty hard task,” she said.

”I think he’s inspired not just me, but plenty of players all around the world to do the great stuff that we do.

“There was a bit of an empty feeling this morning when I woke up. It was a bit of disbelief, to be honest.

“I took some time to read the news and go through all the tributes that have been paid to him.”

Australia was in trouble before King swung momentum the way of Meg Lanning’s side.

She’s a ripper in more ways than one. Gives the ball a mighty snap of the wrist. Shows emotion and enthusiasm.

Wears her heart on a sleeve that was decorated with two black armbands on Saturday.

After the stumping, she slapped the armbands hard.

Australia’s Heaven XI is stronger than ever, eh?

Bradman’s captain, of course, and now he’s got Warne and Richie Benaud as his slow-bowling options. Rod Marsh can give Bert Oldfield a rest with the gloves.

King said she and Warne never really crossed paths. Didn’t matter. He inspired her anyway.

The creativity and splash of sporting genius every decent leg-spinner has. There are easier ways to make a living.

They only crossed paths when she was one of many young faces at coaching clinics with the grand emperor of spin.

“I was probably just too starstruck, to be quite honest, that he was just down the other end sharing a few tips,” she said.

“They’re things I’ll remember for a long time.

“He’s definitely been a big influence, just even his commentary that I’ve listened to – he was just a great thinker of the game and I’ve tried to learn from that.

“He was a big competitor. He never gave in and he was always fighting to the end.

“I hope that I’ve instilled a little bit of that in myself. I’ll never give up when I’m bowling.”

What a team this Australian women’s side is.

They piled on 3-310 thanks mainly to vice-captain Rachael Hayne’s 130 from 131 deliveries and Lanning’s 86 from 110. King netted 3-59 from her 10 overs, winning more than she lost. Haynes was player of the match.

“We woke up to the news and it was really shocking,” Haynes said of Warne’s passing.

“We’ve known that Rod Marsh had passed away, and then to wake up this morning and hear that a legend of the game in Shane Warne had passed away, it was just utter shock within the group.

“Alyssa Healy and I were chatting before the game, just sitting in the change rooms saying life is really fragile.

“We think a tournament like this is pretty significant but it just reinforced to us – go out there and actually enjoy today and enjoy the game because it’s just really sad that things can be taken away so quickly.”

Australia’s next match is on Tuesday against Pakistan.