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Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Ex-staffer reveals big secret about Shane Warne - and how he politely SNUBBED Hollywood superstar Gwyneth Paltrow
Shane Warne endeared himself to millions during a life cut tragically short, but there was one fact about the brash entertainer that may shock those supporters. Warne is regarded as the greatest leg-spin bowler in cricket history, finishing his Test career with 708 wickets from 145 matches. He announced himself on the world stage in 1993 with the famous 'Ball of the Century' to England's Mike Gatting at Old Trafford, a delivery that pitched well outside leg stump and spun sharply to hit off stump. Warne became a cornerstone of Australia 's golden era under captains Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting, playing a key role in Ashes dominance and World Cup success in 1999. His cricketing genius was matched by his showmanship, with trademark celebrations, on-field banter, and a competitive edge that made him a crowd favourite. Off the field, Warne's life was often as colourful as his bowling, with controversies including a one-year ban in 2003 after testing positive to a banned diuretic, high-profile romances with the likes of Liz Hurley, and a reputation for enjoying poker and nightlife. Tragically, Warne died suddenly of a suspected heart attack in March 2022 while holidaying in Thailand at the age of 52. His death shocked the cricket world, with tributes pouring in globally to honour his genius, charisma and impact on the sport. Helen Nolan is an Australian personal and life manager best known for managing Shane Warne's career and personal life for 15 years. She is now the CEO of the Shane Warne Legacy foundation, overseeing initiatives like free health checks to continue Warne's charitable impact. And this week she made a big revelation about the late, great spinner - he never assumed he was in the Australian team, no matter how many wickets he took. 'When I first started working with him, it was just the two of us in the office,' Nolan says. 'He asked me to call Cricket Australia and ask 'IF' he's selected for the Brisbane Test, when would they fly? I said, not knowing anything about cricket, 'Don't you just play every game?' He laughed and said, 'No, you have to be selected'. 'I said, 'Aren't you really good, though, don't you just play every game?' He said, 'I've been lucky enough to be selected for most games, but it's never a given'. That was him all over. No ego. No assumptions. Never took anything for granted.' Warne also had a highly unconventional diet, heavy on pizza, baked beans and pies and including a period where he didn't eat a vegetable for 17 years. He infamously had pizza ordered to high-end restaurants and shunned gourmet food, even when it was cooked by Hollywood superstar Gwyneth Paltrow herself. Helen and Warne were guests at Coldplay frontman Chris Martin's house when he was married to Paltrow, and she revealed that he couldn't bring himself to eat her home-cooked risotto. 'Shane was sneakily moving it around his plate, saying 'Mmmm, this is beautiful' while barely eating it,' she said. Helen will treasure those memories for life, but she admitted it taken her three years to finally process the fact Warnie was gone forever. 'That night, I almost went to bed early as I was exhausted, but for some reason I decided to stay up,' she said. 'I was on my couch when my phone rang. It was Andrew Neophitou (Neo) at 10.07pm on a Friday. My first thought was, 'They've barely been in Thailand 24 hours, why are they calling me?' 'Then I thought, Shane might call this late but Neo wouldn't. So I listened to the voicemail. From his voice alone, I immediately knew something was terribly wrong. So I called back. 'I don't remember much of the conversation, but the moment we hung up, everything changed. In less than 10 seconds, my world shattered. I jumped straight into action and didn't stop working for 30 days straight, completely numb, still in shock over losing the person I spoke to most. 'I was across every part of Shane's life – his poker friends, cricket mates, business contacts, family, old friends, overseas connections. Many of them didn't know each other, so my phone was ringing every 15 seconds. 'That night, no one could believe it. I was fielding calls from friends asking, 'It's not true, right?' while also managing media fact-checking, and while trying to process it myself. Meanwhile, Neo and I made around 37 calls just that night alone, not counting texts, keeping each other updated every step of the way.
The Guardian
19-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
When India won at Headingley for the first time and left England in despair
India will be hoping the Test at Headingley this week goes better than their last visit to the ground in 2021. Dismissed for 78 in the first innings, a defeat inevitably followed for the visitors. It was a far cry from their two previous visits – the victory in 2002 inspired by Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, and their first Test win at the ground in 1986. England's defeat at Headingley 39 years ago was a tough one for their fans. As the World Cup in Mexico grabbed the attention of the sporting public, and Boris Becker defended his Wimbledon crown, England's Test team were plumbing new depths. The glory of the 1985 Ashes series seemed a lifetime ago. That victory had led some to believe that the winter series against the West Indies could be an evenly matched contest between two of the best teams in the world. File that under misplaced confidence. England were crushed 5-0, and the pressure on captain David Gower started to crank up. Gower had led England to a series win in India in 1984-85, but failure to beat the same team at home would inevitably lead to questions about his captaincy. When England lost the first Test at Lord's, the axe fell. Mike Gatting was the next man charged with reviving the English patient, given the job for the forthcoming Tests at Headingley and Edgbaston. Gatting had enjoyed a fruitful period in the team since being appointed as vice-captain by Gower prior to the India tour in 1984, averaging 79.85 in 12 Tests. But he faced a tough task: six consecutive Test defeats, key players missing and selection chaos were hardly the ideal ingredients for success. England made five changes after the defeat at Lord's, deckchairs shuffled sufficiently for the new captain of the Titanic. With Gower ruled out due to a shoulder injury, Chris Smith came into the team for his first Test match in two years. Four other Ashes winners from the previous year were also dropped. The exclusion of spinner Phil Edmonds was understandable, although the selection of John Lever reeked of desperation. The 37-year-old had not played Test cricket for almost five years, although he would take six wickets in his comeback. Another player returning after a five-year absence was Bill Athey, as England's selectors scanned the country frantically for ways to bolster the batting. Tim Robinson and Richard Ellison were also dropped, a fall from grace for two of England's heroes during the 1985 Ashes triumph, with wicketkeeper Bruce French handed a debut in place of Paul Downton. It was little wonder that the banned Ian Botham referred to England's selectors as 'gin-slinging dodderers,' as the revolving door policy continued. Botham may have been beyond his peak, yet his drug-related absence hurt the balance of the team. At Lord's, Derek Pringle batted at No 6, surely one position too high, hence the recall for Athey. This resulted in Gatting having four frontline bowlers in his XI, plus part-time bowling from Gooch. Replacing Beefy was not just an issue for England post-1992. India skipper Kapil Dev had little hesitation on batting first after winning the toss, the pitch expected to deteriorate throughout and make batting last a less than enticing prospect. Putting on 64 for the first wicket, openers Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth were untroubled. But Pringle removed both, before Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar steadied the ship. At 203 for four, India looked in a strong position after tea. But when Lever dismissed Vengsarkar (61) and Dev in consecutive deliveries, and Chandrakant Pandit and Roger Binny followed soon afterwards, India had slumped to 213 for eight in a rare high moment for England supporters in a summer to forget. After closing on 235 for eight, India took their score up to 272 the following morning, with Kiran More's unbeaten 36 a crucial contribution. The highlight of England's day was a fine piece of footballing skill from Gooch at second slip, his neat footwork resulting in a catch after he had originally dropped Maninder Singh. Gooch's training at West Ham had obviously paid off but not everyone was enamoured of football culture creeping into cricket. When a Mexican Wave broke out around the ground just before Mohammad Azharuddin was dismissed in India's second innings, the Guardian writer Matthew Engel made his feelings clear. 'So far as I know this was the wave's first manifestation in English cricket. I fear it will not be the last. Mass hysteria and Yorkshire bitter took over, and large chunks of the crowd kept at it ad nauseam. For once, it was reassuring to remember how resistant everyone at Lord's is to any new idea.' You could hardly blame the spectators for trying to entertain themselves. England's innings was a crushing experience, possibly a new low in a year when that bar was seemingly being adjusted every match. Dismissed for just 102 in 45.1 overs, Binny and Madan Lal – a 35-year-old who was playing at Lancashire League club Ashton-under-Lyne – tore England's new regime apart. Lal removed new opener Wilf Slack for a duck, and Smith shortly afterwards, with Dev removing Gooch in between as England slumped to 14 for three. Either side of lunch, both Gatting and Allan Lamb were out to loose strokes, and England scraped past the follow-on mark with eight wickets down. Only Athey (32) and Graham Dilley (10 in an hour at the crease) provided any resistance in a spineless display. 'We expected more opposition from England in this series,' said India tour manager Raj Singh. 'I don't know if they are still suffering from their defeats in the West Indies, but it is a fact that we have batted, bowled and fielded better than England.' There were only three things wrong with this England team … In fairness, England did fight back, reducing India to 70 for five at the end of day two. But, with the tourists already 240 in front, expectations were low for the Saturday crowd. English fans were cheered briefly as Slack took a flying catch to remove More, but it was another day of woe. Vengsarkar anchored the innings, his unbeaten 102 a superb knock that matched England's total. Strong support from the mid/lower order helped India to 237. England needed 408 to win. Hope had left the ground and gone to the pub early. At one point on the Saturday, India accidentally had 12 men on the field during England's innings, as 12th man Raman Lamba forgot to leave when Srikkanth returned. The visitors could have gone down to 10 men and it would not have mattered. England closed day three on 90 for six, spinner Maninder Singh claiming two late wickets to add salt to England wounds. 'Hopes that England would be revived by a more vigorous captain in Mike Gatting have so far proved fond and foolish,' Scyld Berry wrote in the Observer after the Saturday. 'The problem is there is no confidence or self belief in this side,' Paul Weaver added in the Mirror. England losing to Argentina at the hand and feet of Diego Maradona did little to lift the gloom surrounding English sport. It took a little over an hour to confirm India's series win on the Monday morning. Gatting stood firm for his unbeaten 31, but England could only limp to 128, defeated by a whopping 279 runs. During a Test favouring the bowlers, Vengsarkar was the only batter to pass 50 (twice), his total of 163 runs deservedly seeing him land the player of the match award. After defeats in 1952, 1959 and 1967, as well as a drawn Test in 1979, India had now won at Headingley. The inquest commenced as soon as the match ended. Chairman of selectors Peter May bemoaned the lack of Gower and Botham, complained about the growth of one-day cricket, and requested that England's players 'get back to the basics of bowling a length and batting properly.' Yet many laid the blame at the door of the man who was overseeing the crazy selection policy. Journalists threw names into the hat for May's next selection meeting. Robert Bailey, Robin Smith, Chris Tavare and even 43-year-old Dennis Amiss were mentioned. In the end, England made only five changes for the next Test at Edgbaston, meaning that 19 players had been selected in the three-match series. When New Zealand won their first Test series in England later in the summer, those of us still watching could have been forgiven for deserting the sinking ship. The main highlights of that summer were during rain breaks, which provided a chance to watch repeats of the 1981 Ashes. This article is by Steven Pye for That 1980s Sports Blog
IOL News
23-04-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Shame on these South African parliamentarians
During the apartheid era, there were many amoral sports stars, artists, speakers, academics and other supposed celebrities who infamously visited South Africa as guests of the racist Nationalist regime. To counter the sporting and cultural ban, 'low-key' tours of South Africa were organised. Their intention in organising and participating in these events or tournaments was to break the sporting and cultural boycott against the regime. As an ardent cricket fan, I specifically remember the English rebel cricket tour of 1990 led by Mike Gatting, which had to be aborted due to massive protests against these mercenary cricketers. Like the delegation of South African parliamentarians who visited apartheid Israel on a very one-sided 'fact-finding mission', these Nationalist party supporters also reported via the mass media that they did not witness any human rights violations, racial discrimination or oppression in South Africa. It is to be expected that these members of parliament who were Benjamin Netanyahu's guests will not speak against their sponsors. It is a crying shame and a shearing indictment on them that for a short trip to apartheid Israel and a few blood-stained pennies, they ignore the gross suffering of the Palestinians and the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. Any individual with a modicum of dignity and self-respect would unequivocally condemn the barbarism of the Zionists and their chief ally, America. MOHAMED SAEED I Pietermaritzburg
