Every Melbourne Stars player will wear the late Shane Warne’s famous No.23 and play will stop after 23 balls for a standing ovation when the club honours the late spin king at the MCG on Friday night.
Warne brought his celebrity appeal and personality to the Stars when he came out of retirement in 2011 to help launch the Big Bash League as the club’s marquee player, and he featured in some of the club’s biggest moments.
Melbourne Stars will pay tribute to late Shane WarneCredit:Getty Images
Stars captain and leg-spinner Adam Zampa said he would “always recognise the Stars as being Warnie’s BBL team”, adding that the cricket great “just brought that rock star mentality to the club”.
Each player will wear the number 23 on the front of their playing shirt for the match against the Hobart Hurricanes and a standing ovation will take place after the 23rd ball of the game.
Warne’s family has been invited to the MCG, where the southern stand has been renamed in Warne’s honour, and into the change rooms afterwards.
The Stars will retire the number 23, which Zampa said was “an important moment for the club”.
One of Warne’s playing tops will be displayed on a plinth with his cap and will remain in the rooms as a tribute.
“I think [with the] history of clubs like this, it’s really important to recognise important faces, and he was the most important face at the club when it was established … It’s a great gesture [and] will be good to see his family there,” Zampa said.
Warne was everything the BBL needed in its early years, blending cricketing genius with entertainment. He gave television viewers a rare insight into his skill and aura when, in 2011, he commentated his own bowling and, wired up to the live commentary, accurately predicted Brisbane Heat’s Brendon McCullum’s wicket at the Gabba.
Then in 2012, mic’d up as an on-field commentator, he threw a barb at Hobart’s George Bailey.
Shane Warne talked audiences through the wicket of Brendon McCullum.Credit:Getty Images
“You would think the Australian Twenty20 captain would smack me out of the park, wouldn’t you, rather than keep nicking me?” Warne said to the Fox Sports commentators. Bailey is now the national chairman of selectors.
A year later Warne famously clashed with West Indies import Marlon Samuel. He was given a one-match ban and $4500 fine for obscene language and inappropriate physical contact for the incident, which happened during a derby against the Melbourne Renegades.
Warne clashes with Marlon Samuels.Credit:Getty Images
Zampa explained recently in an interview with The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that Warne was the reason he took up leg-spin, and that he wished he had said more to the legendary cricketer before his death from a heart attack in March this year.
“I mean, he changed the game in general, but also changed the way that people saw leg-spin bowling as well … I still remember as a kid trying to ball with his action and watching footage, trying to copy him.”
Stars general manager Blair Crouch said the Stars wanted to celebrate Warne’s BBL legacy.
“His time at the club may have been short but his impact will be everlasting,” Crouch said.
The BBL season starts on Tuesday night when the Stars face Sydney Thunder in Canberra. Cricket Australia is hoping to arrest the decline in TV ratings with Australian international players available for a window in January. David Warner has signed for the Thunder, while Steve Smith will play up to four matches for Sydney Sixers.
The Stars named New Zealand paceman Trent Boult in the squad for Tuesday, along with fellow left-arm quick and England international Luke Wood.
The Melbourne Stars play the Hobart Hurricanes at 5.05pm at the MCG on Friday, December 16. Their squad for the Thunder game at Manuka Oval is: Adam Zampa (c), Trent Boult (NZ), Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Joe Clarke (ENG), Brody Couch, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Clint Hinchliffe, Nick Larkin, Tom Rogers, Marcus Stoinis, Beau Webster, Luke Wood (ENG).
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