17.03.2022Vale Shane Warne by Peter King

I was shocked and saddened to wake to the news of Shane Warne’s recent passing.

As an Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductee in 2012, his cricketing legacy is well-documented, but in my eyes, we have lost more than a cricketer, we have lost one of the game’s great ambassadors. He championed cricket from the ground up.

Warney was always interested in talent and the future of the sport, right down to grassroots games. There are many stories of him setting aside his time to engage with kids and encourage them to play and enjoy the game.

As an ambassador, he was always available to advocate for Victorian cricket, the MCC, and the game more broadly. His insightful cricket commentary was also a great promotion for the sport – he painted a picture we could all relate to. We’ll miss his incredible contribution to cricket, and we’ll miss all he had to give the sport into the future.

As a person, I always found him to be very approachable and he embodied the larrikin image of the quintessential Australian. He was a very loyal and generous friend.

It’s an enormous loss for the cricket community and the broader community – he always put a smile on our faces and made us happy.

Our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

Peter King is Chief Executive of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), on the Committee of the MCC, Chair of the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, and first-class cricketer for Victoria in the 1980s.