“Warnie gone way too soon but never ever forgotten”: Mark Waugh pays tribute to Shane Warne on his state funeral at the MCG

Former Australian all-rounder Mark Waugh has paid his tribute to Shane Warne on Warne’s state funeral in Melbourne

After Shane Warne’s unexpected death, the cricketing world is in shock. The legendary Australian leg-spinner passed away on 4 March 2022 from a suspected heart attack in Thailand. The state funeral of Shane Warne took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.

Shane Warne is arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He was the first bowler in the world to claim 700 test wickets. He ended his career with 708 test wickets, whereas he has 293 ODI wickets under his belt. Warne also bowled the “Ball of the Century” in the 1993 Ashes.

Warne made his debut against India, and he is just one of the two bowlers to have 1000 international wickets. Only Muttiah Muralitharan took more wickets than Shane Warne in international cricket.

Mark Waugh pays tribute to Shane Warne

Former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh has paid his tribute to the legendary Shane Warne. Shane Warne’s state funeral took place at the MCG, and it was streamed online as well. Waugh also congratulated the organizers for a brilliant event.

“Warnie gone way too soon but never ever forgotten. What a absolutely amazing tribute to him tonite with the pizzaz, passion and entertainment so typical of the great man. Big congrats to all those people involved in the production,” Mark Waugh tweeted.

Mark Waugh was called one of the most gifted stroke makers. Waugh scored 26,855 FC runs, whereas he also took 208 wickets with his off-spin bowling. In International cricket, he scored 8500 runs and 8029 runs in ODIs and Tests, respectively. He took a combined 144 wickets as well.

It is interesting that both Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were involved in a bookmaker incident in the early 1990s, where they passed on some sensitive information about the game to a bookmaker.