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Pat Cummins reveals the emotional moment David Warner broke the news of Shane Warne’s death to his Australia teammates in Pakistan before they spent the night reminiscing “over a few beers”.
David Warner broke the news of Shane Warne’s death during Australia’s tour of Pakistan last year, before the players had a few ‘beers’ and reminisced about the late king of spins together.
Warne passed away aged 52 while on holiday in Thailand on March 4, just hours after the Australian cricketing family lost the great Rod Marsh.
The latter’s death was commemorated with a minute’s silence before the start of the opening Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, before an already calm mood turned even bleaker shortly after the end of day one.
David Warner informed his teammates while in Pakistan of the death of Shane Warne
“We had just finished the play for the day, we got back on the bus and David Warner turned around from the front seat and said, ‘Shane Warne has passed away in Thailand,'” recalls Australia captain Pat Cummins on episode 3 of the second season of The Test, Amazon’s behind-the-scenes documentary about the Australian cricket team.
In the documentary, which opens Jan. 13, Warner looks back on how the team paid tribute to the legendary leg spinner.
‘That night we sat upstairs [with] a few beers going over some Warnie stories,’ he says.
‘That [Warne’s death] it really is us. A character in our game and a loyal human being is someone who has been taken away at such a young age.
Pat Cummins revealed how Warner broke the news in season two of The Test, Amazon’s behind-the-scenes documentary about the Australian cricket team, which premieres Friday.
Warne died prematurely at the age of 52 while on vacation in Thailand on March 4.
Warne’s tally of 708 wickets in 145 Test matches is the second highest ever.
Warne’s tally of 708 wickets in 145 Tests is the second highest in history behind only Muttiah Muralitharan and he also took another 293 in 194 ODIs, winning back-to-back World Cups in 1996 and 1999.
And Cummins noted that the late king of spins and the all-powerful team he led inspired an entire generation in Australia.
“When I think of Warnie, I think of my childhood,” the Australian said quickly.
“Growing up you think of the great Australian teams and he personified everything you loved about Australian cricket.”
Pakistan and Australia observed a minute’s silence before the start of the second day of the first test in Rawalpindi in March last year.
Warne’s sudden and untimely death shocked cricket fans around the world
“On the Ashes series, he was always the one standing tall, he was theatrical when he got to the bowling.”
The third episode also reveals that Australia manager Andrew McDonald encouraged his players to speak to their support staff if they felt they were having trouble coping with the passing of Marsh and Warne.
“I think the guys had to deal with it in their own way,” explains bowler Mitchell Swepson.
‘We just knew we had to go out there and play the next day and try to win the game for Australia like Warnie would have wanted us to;