Australian spin legend Shane Warne’s sudden demise has left the cricket fraternity in a state of shock.
The 52-year-old passed away of a suspected heart attack on Friday (March 4). He was found unresponsive in his villa in Thailand and couldn’t be revived despite the best efforts of medical staff, as revealed by Warne’s management company.
A day later, the details about Warne's death are emerging and it is learnt that the spin wizard was watching cricket before a scheduled meeting with friends for dinner when he suffered the attack.
According to a report published in Sydney Morning Herald, Shane Warne’s business manager performed CPR for about 20 minutes to save him.
"The 52-year-old's long-time manager told the Herald and The Age (that) Warne had not been drinking before he was found by his friend Andrew Neophitou, an executive producer on his recently released documentary, who had gone to Warne's Thailand hotel room before a planned dinner," the report said.
The report further stated that Warne was found unconscious "with the historic first Test between Australia and Pakistan playing on the television".
The spin great reportedly holidaying at a resort in Koh Samui, Thailand "as part of a rare extended holiday." He was scheduled to travel to the UK on his commentating assignment.
"They were meant to meet some people at 5pm. Neo (Neophitou) was next door, he's always on time," Warne's long-time manager James Erskine said.
"He realised he wasn't well. He tried to give mouth-to-mouth, tried to resuscitate him, he had no heartbeat, the ambulance came 20 minutes later and an hour and a bit later he was pronounced dead (at the Thai International Hospital)."
According to Erskine, Warne hadn't been drinking lately and was on diet to lose weight.
"He was on holiday, having a lie down, siesta, he hadn't been drinking, he'd been on this diet to lose weight," he said.
"He didn't drink much. Everyone thinks he's a big boozer but he's not a big boozer at all. I sent him a crate of wine, 10 years later it's still there. He doesn't drink, never took drugs, ever. He hated drugs so nothing untoward," added Erskine.
"He was going to do the things he likes doing. He was going to play in one or two poker competitions, play a lot of golf, be with his kids; that was about it; (to) have time to himself."
Shane Warne played 145 Tests and 194 ODIs between 1992 and 2007 and claimed a total of 1001 wickets during his illustrious career. He played a key role in Australia’s 1999 World Cup triumph.
(With IANS inputs)
