Sports
‘World stopped spinning’; Twitter mourns Australia legend Shane Warne
‘RIP Spin King’: State funeral announced for Shane Warne
Canberra: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Saturday announced that late spin legend Shane Warne will receive a state funeral, while the cricket board decided to rename a stand at the MCG in his honour.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday that Australians were “bewildered" by a “sad and sudden loss" of Shane Warne, and announced the cricketing hero would receive a state funeral.
Morrison compared Warne to all-time great and fellow Australian Don Bradman.
“He was one of our nation’s greatest characters," Morrison added.
Praising him as inspiration to backyard cricketers across the country, Morrison described a larger-than-life character who lit up each Australian summer.
Twitter was devastated by the news and extended their condolences.
Shane Warne made his Test Debut against India in Sydney on January 2, 1992. He played his last test against England at Sydney on January 2, 2007.
Shane Warne’s stellar international career spanned 15 years. He took 708 Test wickets—highest ever for an Australian, and the second-most of all time.
Warne was affectionately known as ‘Warnie’ and had millions of fans across the world.
The leg-spinner was known for his guile bowling and took a total of 1001 wickets. He became the first-ever bowler to scale the peak of 1,000 international wickets.
He was also the first captain to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 when he led the Rajasthan Royals.
Hours before his death, Warne had condoled the death of former Australia wicket-keeper Rodney Marsh who passed away earlier in the day.
The tweet, in which Warne expressed his sadness over the death of his compatriot, went viral after the news of his own death broke.