Cricket Australia (CA) on Monday (December 26) honoured the legendary spinner Shane Warne by renaming Australia’s Men’s Test Player of the Year award after him.
From now on, the Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year award will be presented annually at the Australian Cricket Awards.
CA chief executive Nick Hockley and Australian Cricketers’ Association CEO Todd Greenber confirmed the renaming of the award during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at MCG as a tribute to Warne, who passed away earlier this year.
“As one of Australia’s all-time greats, it is fitting we acknowledge Shane’s extraordinary contribution to Test cricket by naming this award in his honour in perpetuity,” Hockley was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“Shane was a proud advocate of Test cricket and you only have to look around at all the fans who came out to the MCG in their floppy hats and zinc on Boxing Day to realise what a profound impact he had on the game.”
For his 40 wickets in 2005, Shane Warne himself won the award in 2006. The Australian Cricket Awards for the year 2022 will be announced on January 30.
“I’m proud that the ACA, along with Cricket Australia, is able to recognise the incredible impact Shane had on Test cricket with an award named in his honour,” Greenberg said.
“While he was a once in a generation player, he was very much a man who understood the important contribution all players made to Australian cricket.
“He played an important role in the formative years of the ACA and never knocked back an opportunity to promote and grow the game … and once they came, nobody knew how to put on a show quite like Warnie – particularly here at the MCG,” he added.
Widely regarded as the greatest spinners of all time, Shane Warne died of a suspected heart attack on March 4, 2022 at the age of 53. He was found unresponsive in his villa in Thailand and couldn’t be revived despite the best efforts of medical staff.
Warne played 145 Tests and 194 ODIs between 1992 and 2007 and claimed a total of 1001 wickets during his illustrious career. He also played a key role in Australia’s 1999 World Cup triumph.
(With PTI inputs)
