For someone who believes that there ought to be a law against unauthorised biographies Shane Warne took the task of deciding upon the 100 best cricketers of his time for Shane Warne’s Century, his new book, very seriously. If evidence is needed that Warne did not simply pick his buddies, then it is to be found at No 93; yes, Arjuna Ranatunga. It is well known that Warne is not fond of the former Sri Lanka captain, whom he said was so unfit that he looked like he had swallowed a sheep.
“I apologise if I’ve forgotten anyone,” Warne said. It was a tricky task because his remit was to list, in order, the top 100 cricketers he had played alongside or against. “I took my time,” he said. “It was very hard but it was not about statistics; I don’t worry about averages.”
Instead he concerned himself with the players he had feared, who was the most entertaining, who played the game in the right spirit, who could be called a role model, whom he would most like to have resembled and whom he would pay money to see. This last criterion resulted in him placing Mark Waugh higher than Steve Waugh. “Steve’s numbers are better but Mark is graceful and I’d rather watch him,” Warne said. “I can’t be wrong. It’s my opinion.”
Warne admits that he was sensitive about what was written about him at the start of his career and was fascinated and annoyed that people would judge him without having met him. There are 13 unauthorised biographies of him and the first page of the first one did its utmost to make him a cynic. It said he lived in Black Rock, Melbourne, and drove a red Ferrari. In fact, he drove a blue one and lived somewhere else. “There should be a law that says you need permission to write about someone’s life,” he said.
The obvious question, then, is what would Warne want written about him in someone else’s list of the best cricketers? “That I always tried to give 100 per cent and never gave up, ever,” he said. “It’s never over until the last ball is bowled. I brought a lot of joy to a lot of people. I got the best out of myself. I was a tough competitor. Leg spin is hard and I stuck at it and changed the game; the laws of the game changed because of the way I bowled. I helped make the game popular.”
It would have to be added to any summary of his life that Warne, 39, possesses astonishing levels of enthusiasm and energy. He is heavily involved with Cricket Australia (CA) and is trying to find the next great spin bowler. He travels around the states and helps cricketers to understand spin bowling and its thought processes. “In a year or two I’ll provide two or three spinners that can succeed at first-class level,” he said.
He helps out with the women’s game and the under-19s and sits on the CA rules committee. He has two years of his contract left with Rajasthan Royals, the Indian Premier League side, where he is coach and captain. He writes for newspapers, including The Times. And he looks after three children. Brooke, 11, Jackson, 9, and Summer, 7, spend five days with him and then nine days with Simone Callahan, his ex-wife, with whom he has “a really good relationship”.
“I watch the kids swim, dance, gym, music, all school events,” he said. “My son recently won Cool Kid of the Week. Brooke is captain of the library.”
He has no help on his days in charge, so he has to make the packed lunches, tidy up and do the washing, help with the homework and put the children to bed. He even vacuums — but is not handy at all household chores. “I can’t iron,” he said.
“If cricket is all you have, you would miss the camaraderie and the adrenalin. I was like that for ten years, but kids changed my perspective. They are my No 1 priority. I’m at a great time in my life. My eldest is 11 and I can have a conversation with her, we can have lunch together. Cricket is not my job; my job is to be the best parent I can be. I can have a bad day at cricket and then my kids run up for a cuddle, so who cares if you got smacked around the park?”
Warne, like many doting parents, is upset by tales of children in distress. Unlike other doting dads, however, he has been able to save children’s lives. The Shane Warne Foundation is for seriously ill and underprivileged children in Australia. It saved, he says, 55 lives in two months by funding helicopters to transport children in remote areas to hospitals. He fought red tape, taxation laws and due-diligence procedures to reach the stage where the foundation is providing A$1 million (about £450,000) a year.
Warne has also developed a passion for poker and is in London for the World Series being held at the Empire Casino, Leicester Square that starts today. He will then dash off to Scotland for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the pro-am golf tournament, next week. Spectators should be warned, though, that he is “going through a horror phase” with his golf.
He is a celebrity, socialises with celebrities and meets them in lifts. One night a man in a hotel lift in London said: “You’re Shane Warne.” It was Chris Martin, the Coldplay singer, which amused Warne because Yellow, by Coldplay, is the track he chose to accompany his entrance in one-day matches. “I said, ‘Hello, mate, I walk out to your song,’ ” Warne said. They went for a drink and are good friends.
Martin “likes his cricket”, said Warne, who believes that the game’s future is “OK” as long as people don’t get too greedy. “Don’t overdo it,” he said. “Look at one-day cricket — everyone loved it and now there’s too much of it. They mustn’t stretch Twenty20 or the crowds will drop.”
His mantra for cricket’s health is “less is best”. It is not a phrase that can be used to sum up his life.
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