Durban - Two former Durban High School teachers played important roles in the development of Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne, who died last week.
Barrie Irons and John Mason coached him when he was part of Melbourne’s Mentone Grammar School’s First XI, which he attended on a sport scholarship. “A blond kid” was recommended to Mason while he was scouting for a leg-spin bowler, and Warne left a huge impression on him.
Mason had said in conversation with other school cricket officials: “Get me a good leg-spin bowler and we can win more premierships.” With Warne in the First XI, the school won the Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria cricket premiership.
Warne died suddenly of a suspected heart attack at a villa in Thailand and will be buried at a state funeral in Melbourne, the capital of Australia’s Victoria state, on March 30.
“He bowled very accurately and very positively,” said Irons, who remembers him as “a slightly happy-go-lucky guy“ as well as being a “quietly confident kid who just got on with it”. He was always supported by his parents who were “good, solid people who kept his feet on the ground”.
Mentone Grammar School's 50th Anniversary of its first AGS Cricket premiership in 2016.
Warne once dabbled with the idea of changing his bowling style. Irons recalls him once saying to him while practising in the nets that he was considering becoming a swing bowler like former New Zealand captain Jeremy Coney.
“I said to him, anyone can (become a swing bowler); rather stick to being a leg spinner. Even then, it was clear to me he was going to be good.”
He stuck to his style and shared the bowling with swing bowler (left-arm orthodox leg-spinner) Wayne “Dutchy” Fuller.
Really significant was the fact Irons made him captain in his final season, probably to the surprise of some staff. “He was an unbelievably positive and inspirational leader. He led from the front, always believing matches could be won outright. He backed this up with his superb spin bowling and middle order batting,” said Irons.
“The team never lost a game.”
Media reports have recalled how Warne didn’t fancy spicy food while on tour in India and had baked beans flown in from home. Irons added his own version to the tale of Warne’s dietary ways.
“Our eating habits weren’t good. We would go to MacDonalds for hamburgers after games. Shane would take the meat out of his roll and put his chips in.”
The two former DHS teachers also fondly remember Warne’s larger-than life personality and generosity.
Mason learned of one instance from an unexpected source when he moved house after he had retired. “When an elderly lady next door heard that I was a teacher at Mentone Grammar, she told me about her grandson who had been there and had been diagnosed with an incurable cancer.”
The boy was a huge Shane Warne fan.
“Shane had heard about him and went to visit him in hospital ‒ I believe more than once ‒ and it did wonders for the boy.”
On another occasion, Warne did not hesitate to autograph a cricket bat to be auctioned to raise funds for a Melbourne boy who needed complex facial surgery, which at that time could only be performed by a world-leading paediatric surgeon in Toronto.
When Irons moved from Melbourne to Tasmania and coached the local Hutchins School team, he took them on tour to Victoria.
“I asked Shane if he would be free to come and give my leg spinners a hand.” Warne drove 80km to give Tom Burbury an hour of his time, Irons recalled. He showed him how to bowl a flipper and discussed tactics.
In Durban, Irons’ parents introduced themselves to Warne on his 1994 tour.
“He asked: ’Are you coming to the Test?’ Then he sorted them out with tickets at Kingsmead; not from the organisers but from himself.”
Irons attended the January day-night Ashes Test in Hobart where his former pupil made his final Test commentary.
Meanwhile, Mason recalled a school reunion dinner where “I had an opportunity to say something that had been playing on my mind for some time. I said: ’You know, Shane, there are only two disappointments I have about your playing career. The first was that you never scored a Test century, and the other is that you never captained the Test team.’
“Without hesitation he smiled and replied: ’You know, John, they are my two disappointments as well’.”
Mason said Warne often made jokes at his own expense and was “embarrassingly honest”.
He wrote in a piece he sent back to DHS, which is also his own alma mater: “Several years ago the organisers of a planned reunion at Mentone Grammar had speculated as to how they might persuade Shane to interrupt his busy schedule and attend the get-together.
“Someone asked whether there was something that would ensure his attendance. He replied that there was, and it was simple. He named a classmate that he had not seen for some time ‒ not a fellow cricketer, just a mate with whom he formed a strong bond at school.
“The school immediately approached this young man who was just as eager to meet up with Shane, and true to his word, and much to the delight of the attendees, the great Shane Warne did attend.
“When he got up to say a few words, his opening remarks which completely captivated everyone were something like, ’Well you probably have heard a few stories about me getting myself into some trouble ‒ and of course they are all true’.
“He could be charmingly self-deprecating and funny, but honest to a fault.”
Mason told the Independent on Saturday Warne often characterised himself as being rebellious. “That was not our perspective. He was a house captain. Teachers would not have put him in that position had we thought he was badly behaved, unreliable or disrespectful.”
Independent on Saturday