Shane starts this chapter with his love for poker. Back in 1994, he went to a casino in Sri Lanka where he lost 5000 AUD. He later joined Mark Waugh who was sitting with another man called John. That fellow persuaded Warne to take 5 grand from him because he told him that he liked how Warne played the game. The words match-fixing and spot-fixing weren’t in vogue at that point. The matter ended there. He called Warne again during the home series against the West Indies and congratulated him on being back in the team. John also asked about the overcast conditions, pitch etc., and the conversation ended. Atleast, Warne thought that the matter ended there. Shane Warne and fixing allegations.
While on a tour of New Zealand, Ian McDonald took Warne aside and asked him about the bookmaker called John. Warne told him about the conversations he had with him and also the fact that he took 5 grand for having lost 5 grand at the casino. A few weeks later, on the way to West Indies, Bob Simpson and Jack Edwards again asked Warne about the Sri Lankan bookmaker. Warne was adamant that he did nothing wrong and that it was a harmless conversation but Jack told him that this was bad. John bets on cricket and that there would be repercussions.
Now, Warne began to feel somewhat nervous. Jack told Warne that the ACB would fine Mark Waugh 10K AUD and Warne 8K AUD. He also guaranteed that it would be done internally and that the fines wouldn’t be made public. At the sametime, Warne told Jack about another instance.
Salim Malik and fixing
This time, it was in Pakistan and by Salim Malik. Back in 1994, during a Test in Karachi, Salim Malik asked Warne to come to his room for a short discussion. As soon as Warne went to his room, Malik told Warne that Pakistan could not lose that game because there would be riots on the streets. He offered 200K each for Warne and Tim May and told him to bowl wide outside the offstump so that the game would be a draw. Hearing this, Warne was stunned and naturally, refused to accept.
He went to his room and informed May. Together they informed Simpson and the captain Mark Taylor. They were stunned but didn’t consider the possibility of Australia not winning the game. The next day, with all the 3 results being possible, Australia got 9 wickets with little over 50. Inzamam was given not out repeatedly and eventually, Pakistan scraped through.
The game was tense but later on, Salim Malik was banned for life for match-fixing. In 1998, Graham Halbish, the CEO of Cricket Australia called Warne and told him that the ACB would have to make public the fine that Waugh and Warne were charged in 1994 because match-fixing became increasingly an issue and that ACB did not want to hide anything. The next morning, The Herald Sun on the front page had the pictures of Warne and Waugh with the title Match-Fixers. Warne felt bad that the ACB didn’t back them enough but he admits that he made a mistake. He learned the perils of match-fixing the hardway.
Warne and his former wife
In this chapter, Shane describes about how he met his wife, Simone in 1992 in Victoria. She gave her number but Warne lost it. Then he again met her at St. Kilda Football Club. This time he persuaded her to come to the Perth Test. Later, she travelled with him to England though the expenses like flight, accommodation and everything else were borne by Warne. In England, after the Gatting ball and all the accompanying stardom, Warne took Simone to a lake and proposed to marry her. It wasn’t his intention to propose. She agreed.
Warne also bought a new house and was making some money from the game but not high enough which changed with sponsorship. His managers, Austin Robertson and John Cornell made a huge deal with Nike for 1.25Million for 5 years and a further 250K per year from Just Jeans. Suddenly, Warne’s life changed with lots of ads and frequent TV appearances. Warne became a massive celebrity. He did TV commercials for Nike and lived in Portland, Oregon and made friends with Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan. He also designed a cricketing shoe for the global cricket market. When Lara bought those, it flew off the shelves. Back to the game.
Tremendous pressure
By 1994, Warne felt exhausted from all the bowling, the focus on his marriage etc when Australia toured South Africa. In the first Test, with Cronje and Hudson building up a nice partnership, Border brought on Warne and he immediately answered that call with the wicket of Hudson. What happened after that was shocking because he abused Hudson endlessly. It was the culmination of the kind of focus he was under but that cannot be an excuse. Warne went to the SA change room and apologised to Hudson. Furthermore, dwelling deeper into his relationship with Simone, he also writes about their divorce. I do not want to get into that.
Other parts of the autobiography