Ricky Ponting, the former captain of Australia, wept as he paid tribute to his old teammate Shane Warne, who died on Friday. The famed spinner was discovered unresponsive in a luxury resort on the Thai island of Koh Samui. The 52-year-old died of a heart attack, according to police, and no foul play was suspected in his death.
The tragic death of Warne stunned the cricketing world, and people all across the world have expressed their sorrow. Over the course of a 15-year career, Warne appeared in 145 Tests, collecting 708 wickets while also proving to be a capable lower-order batsman, with a top Test score of 99.
Ponting said he was startled when he learned of Warne’s death the next morning when he woke up, and it still doesn’t seem true to him that his former teammate and a good friend is no longer with us.
“I was shocked I think like probably the rest of the world. I mean I’ve got the messages when I woke up this morning. I went to bed last night knowing that I had to take my daughters for netball and then was confronted with what didn’t seem quite real at that time and even now probably doesn’t really seem like it’s real either so I’ve had a few hours now to digest it all and think about how a part of my life he was and reflect on a lot of those memories through the years,” Ponting said.
The renowned Australia skipper went on to say that he had never played alongside a better or more competitive bowler than the King of Spin.
“Halfway through my career when we turned up to do coaching clinics and whatever else, every young kid in Australia wanted to be more than one of the bold leg spinners. He is going to down as one of the all-time greats of the game if not one the greatest. I’ve never played with a more better and competitive bowler, someone who changed and revolutionized spin bowling back into,” he added.
On Saturday, Ponting shared a touching message for Warne on social media.
“Hard to put this into words. I first met him when I was 15 at the Academy. He gave me my nickname. We were teammates for more than a decade, riding all the highs and lows together. Through it all, he was someone you could always count on, someone who loved his family. Someone who would be there for you when you needed him and always put his mates first. The greatest bowler I ever played with or against. RIP King. My thoughts are with Keith, Bridgette, Jason, Brooke, Jackson, and Summer,” he wrote.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday that the “sad and abrupt death” of Warne had left Australians “bewildered,” and that the cricketing legend would be honored with a state funeral.
