It was the next best thing to celebrating Australia Day in Australia and that was sharing Australia’s national day in catching up with Australian cricketing great Shane Warne.
Warne was in Abu Dhabi competing in the Abu Dhabi Invitational first on Sunday with Simon Dyson as his pro partner and then teeing up again on Monday in the amateur only event.
Fran Caffrey’s (www.golffile.ie) wonderful photograph of Bernie and legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne with the Australian flag perfectly positioned between the two proud Aussies at Yas Links. Abu Dhabi.
Warne is widely regarded as one of the best bowlers in the history of cricket.
He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1994 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.[2] He was the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World 1997 (Notional Winner).
Warne was also named Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2004 in 2005 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet and the only one still playing at the time.
I spoke with ‘Warney’ while at the Yas Links and he indicated he was heading to London before heading back to Australia in readiness for the 2015 World Cup and taking up his duties as a commentator with Nine Sports in Australia.
Warne played his first Test Match in 1992, and took over 1000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals), second to this milestone after Sri Lanka‘s Muttiah Muralitharan. Warne’s 708 Test wickets was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, until it was also broken by Muralitharan on 3 December 2007.
A useful lower-order batsman, Warne also scored over 3000 Test runs, and he holds the record for most Test runs without a century.
And this journalist was present at Old Trafford in 1993 when Warne bowled what was the ‘Ball of the Century’ in dismissing England’s Mike Gatting.
FOOTNOTE –
It may have been Australia Day but it wasn’t till 6.30pm I managed to savour my first celebratory beer of the day and that was a Heineken.
And I have to report it never touched the sides.
Here’s a happy Australia Day to everyone, and also a happy National Day to India given January 26th is also their national day.
All I can say is good luck in the Cricket World Cup.
