Thousands of people attended the Shane Warne memorial service on Wednesday evening at his home ground, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). But the number of people who are reported to have watched this event is insane – 1 Billion!! That’s the love and admiration that people have for the ‘Spin King’ who sadly passed away on March 4.
Yes, according to journalist Tom Chadwick, a Melbourne-based journalist, a mammoth number of 1 Billion people tuned into the Shane Warne memorial service on different mediums – YouTube for worldwide audiences, news television in Australia, radios, and any other mediums too – as fans remembered and other paid tributes to the greatest leg-spinner of all time.
Celebrities not just from cricket, but different fields – sport, music, television and film and the lives that Warne touched – made their presence felt in the iconic MCG on Wednesday night, Warne’s home ground, where as a new Test entrant, he routed West Indies with 7/52, took his Ashes hat-trick and claimed his 700th Test wicket in his last Test series.
Tom Chadwick said that a whopping 1 Billion people – which is one-eighth of the world population – tuned in to watch The Shane Warne Memorial–for this special goodbye to Warne.
“1 Billion people watched the Shane Warne Memorial last night That’s 1/8th of the entire World Extraordinary,” the journalist tweeted.
1 Billion people watched the Shane Warne Memorial last night
That’s 1/8th of the entire World
Extraordinary #ShaneWarneMemorial
— Tom Chadwick (@TomChadwick_7) March 30, 2022
Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, was among the panel of members sitting in the middle of the MCG at the Shane Warne Memorial, talking about the deceased leggie, said: “The greatest cricketer who has ever played the game. Unbelievable cricketer and bloke.”
Allan Border, who captained Warne in his early years in Test cricket said: “Thank you for making my captaincy… it revitalised my captaincy towards the end of my time. I was lucky to have two years with Shane, and I’d just thank him for that.”
The final addresses of the Shane Warne Memorial came from Warne’s three children – Brooke, Summer and Jackson.
“You lived 100 lives, Dad. You never took anything for granted and you made sure you lived every day to the fullest,” Summer said.
Jackson recalled his memories of playing with his father: “In one of the first games of cricket I ever played, you told me, ‘Just go out there and have fun because when you’re happy, good things will happen.’ So that was the mindset I had for that game. I ended up taking a hat-trick and that’s a memory I will never forget. You were so proud of me. Although I didn’t go down the cricket path, you didn’t mind. You just wanted the best for me.“
Then, on the second tier of what was previously the Great Southern Stand, the three children then unveiled the Shane Warne Stand.
Warne had made his debut against India in 1992, and went on to become arguably the greatest bowler in the history of the game, claiming 1001 international wickets – 293 in ODIs and 708 Test wickets – a tally only bettered by Sri Lanka’s Muralitharan who snared 1347 international dismissals.
Featured image source: Sky Sports
