Chapter 1: What special memories does Jackson Warne share about his father, Shane?
Welcome along to a special Sky Cricket podcast episode. Mainly special because it means we can take a week off after banging on every day for the last two months. The ashes are done and dusted and we'll be back in the lead up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup. But to keep the pod ticking over, we're going to take you back to Melbourne.
Ahead of that test, the Australian Sports Museum launched a Shane Warne exhibition and we had the pleasure of Shane's son Jackson showing us around all his memorabilia.
Well the Ashes has made its way to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test Match and when you're in Melbourne you have to come down to the MCG and when you're at the G you have to come here because he is Mr Cricket in these parts, Shane Warne, the King, look at that action, the statue of the great man, how many cricketers, how many England batters have been 22 yards from that pose dreading what was coming down, not having a clue which way the ball was going to spin.
For me the greatest cricketer by a mile of anyone I've ever played against for so many different reasons, not just his cricketing ability. Michael, where does he rate for you and why was he so special, Shane Wall?
Unquestionably, the greatest bowler that I played against. I kind of think of Shane, Viv Richards, Virat Kohli is amongst the most charismatic cricketers that I've seen on the world stage. But in terms of spin bowling and bowling, unquestionably the greatest cricketer that I played against. I mean, he revitalized the art of leg spinning. I think it says that there, actually.
Combining prodigious spin revive the art of leg spin, which had kind of been dying out a little bit in Australia. You know, the 70s and 80s had been decades where the fast bowlers had dominated and suddenly this great leg spinner appeared on the scene. I obviously played in the old Trafford game, the ball of the century game.
And then, you know, it was unfortunate enough to play in all those Ashes series where he was on the other side. But it was a combination of his great skill, prodigious turner of the ball, unbelievably accurate, so a great attacking and defensive force, but an unbelievably charismatic cricketer.
I always think that 2005 series, ironically, the only Ashes series that he lost, I thought you saw his greatness come out in that series, because that was a series where Australia struggled, a lot of the great players kind of withered away, and he stood tall with 40 wickets and, I don't know, 260 runs or something, and almost single-handedly got Australia over the line.
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Chapter 2: How did Shane Warne's legacy impact the cricket community?
Well, for us, he was an opponent. He was a friend. He was a fellow commentator. For you, Jackson Warne, he was a dad. And you must have some very, very special memories of him, not just as a cricketer, but as a person as well.
and especially here at the MCG. And I think he'll always be dad to me. He'll always be my best friend, but my connection, especially to the MCG, dad used to describe it as his office or his backyard. So for me to be only living 30 minutes away from his office or his backyard, where he's got the statue, he's got the Shane Wong stand, He's taken a hat trick here. He got his 700th wicket here.
He calmed down the crowd. Like he has such a connection to this stadium and to this place that to me, it feels like home. So to be able to come here on Boxing Day test and then in the home and away season for the AFL,
I find it quite lucky because even though it is quite sad sitting in the stand and seeing the Shane Warne Centre and instantly thinking he should still be here, the amount of messages I get, photos get sent of people putting their VBs up here and saying Merry Christmas, Jackson.
I was going to ask you about that, you know, because every time I come and look at this statue, I see VB cans, I see pizzas, I see chip sandwiches, I see Vegemite. I mean, your dad didn't have the best diet, did he, from time to time?
He didn't have the best diet. And you've probably also seen him when he'd be in the commentary box making hot chip sandwiches with white bread, butter, chips, extra amount of sauce, eating it. But that was him. He never changed for anybody. Doesn't matter how old or young he was or who he was talking to, where he was. He was always himself. And I think that's why so many people respected him.
And I think that's why so many people loved him, because he was always himself. You've touched on it. What did this place mean to him? I think it'd probably be one of the most special stadiums in his heart ever. You know, obviously he has a big connection to Lords, where they've now got a commentary box after him.
He's got, obviously, Hampshire and where he played at a junior, East Sandringham, down in Radastan Royals. He's got all these connections at all these different places all around the world. But at the MCG, like I said before, where the stand, the statue, his hologram downstairs is, and now the exhibition, it's just another fairy tale to his entire career and to his legacy.
And he obviously loved this place, but the people of Melbourne loved him as well. How difficult was it for him? I mean, we see him, we come out of commentary boxes at Lourdes and everyone wants a piece of Shane Warne. Could he walk around Melbourne and have a normal life or just no way?
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Chapter 3: What unique experiences did Jackson have growing up as Shane Warne's son?
And I was so lucky that I got to see that my entire life. And not only in Australia, but in England, even in places like America where they don't even play cricket, people would still recognize him. Spain, because a lot of English people like to go to holiday in Spain. But he always loved Melbourne. He loved coming home and he loved the people.
So his character was no different then from the kind of person that we saw on the field and around the dressing room to the dad that you knew back at home. Because often athletes have very different personalities, don't they? They call it white line fever or whatever. They can be totally different on the pitch to off the pitch. It sounds like your dad was pretty same all the way through.
Yeah, well, I completely agree with you. And I think there was quite a separation from Dad's media
sort of image to his personal image and I'm really glad that after the state memorial those sort of images got mixed together and everybody was able to see the side that you guys got to see working with him and the side that I got to see his dad because everybody especially like yourself when you were talking about dad you all had things in common he was generous with his time he was generous with his energy he was making people laugh making people smile how can I help you and that was just dad always no matter who it was for what it was about he just wanted to help people
and that memorial service. I mean, that was so tricky for you and your sisters. It must have been such a difficult period in your life, and I guess still, but you spoke so openly and so bravely with your sisters that evening. That was a special occasion for the people of Melbourne, people of Australia, to show how much they love Shane.
Yeah, and thank you as well for coming and talking on that panel. It still feels a little bit surreal, like the fact that there was apparently a billion people that watched it live, 50,000 people in the MCG and just to hear the panel and feel the atmosphere and being in the middle of the MCG, like it was very strange.
But to me, although some people have said what you did was very brave and it took a lot of courage and strength, I had the mindset of, Dad wants me to do this, so I'm going to do it for Dad. Doesn't matter how many cameras there were, doesn't matter who it was for, what it was about. I knew I had to do that for Dad. That's what Dad would want me to do.
And I think it completely changed my life because I got to speak about something that was so personal and emotional to me in such a public setting that, yeah, I just found myself a lot more comfortable talking in front of cameras and talking about Dad. And yeah, I just know he would want me to remember him like that. But yeah, it was a special night. I miss you so much, Dad.
I love you up to the sky and back, and I'll see you soon. Thank you.
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Chapter 4: How did Shane Warne's personality shine on and off the field?
He would always treat people the same and he would always introduce himself first of all. He'd say, hello, I'm Shane One. Now, everybody knew who he was. But he didn't assume people knew who he was. And I always liked that about him. I always thought that was a measure of his kind of humility, really.
Yeah, he definitely exactly to that. I have so many moments where we'd be in the crown smokers at 2 a.m. talking to a prime minister or talking to the bus driver or talking to a receptionist. Doesn't matter who it was, where it was or what time it was. He was always himself, always wanted to make people laugh. And exactly like what you just said,
He just wanted to make people laugh and he was always very manners are free. Hello, my name's Shane. And I think that's what I've gotten from him because I got two awards at my school. First award was for having the best manners when I was in prep. My second award was taking a hat trick when I was about 15 years old. They're the only two awards I've got from school.
But yeah, I think just growing up with mum and dad always drilling into me, manners are free, manners are free, manners are free. Hat trick with leggies or?
Chapter 5: What does Jackson reveal about Shane Warne's connection to the MCG?
Hat trick with leggies, but I was bowling moonies. Do you know what moonies are?
No, I can't remember. Well, they're like our leggies.
Yeah, probably your leggies. It's just possibly the slowest ball of all time that when the batsman knew it was me, they'd either try and hit it for six and hit it straight up and get caught, or they'd miss and get stumped. They're like leggies, but they were moonies.
Right, enough about your filthy leg spin over there. Let's go and have a look at the exhibition, the real reason we're here. Let's do it.
Okay, well here we are, the Australian Sports Museum and the bowels of the MCG and this permanent exhibition of your dad's memorabilia. First of all, tell us how it came about.
Yeah, it's a bit surreal sort of seeing it all like this because dad never displayed his memorabilia. We always used to ask, why don't you display it? And he always used to say, they know what I did. They know what I did. So to see it actually here catalogued properly, on display, under the lights, It's a bit surreal, like it doesn't feel like we've had this for 25 years in our collection.
But as soon as Dad passed, all of us came together as a family, Dad's team, the executives of his estate. Everybody that knew and worked with Dad his entire life, we all had the first instinct. That was, what do we do with Dad's memorabilia? And that was share it with the world. And we didn't know what that looked like.
We didn't know if that was put it in a van and tour it around Australia, take it to the UK. We don't know. Do we build our own museum? Do we donate it? Do we sell it? We don't know. But fast forward three and a half years for it to now finally end up at what dad used to call his backyard or at his office where he's got all of these special moments.
It's just a very surreal, but it's just another fairy tale ending to his legacy.
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