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Simone Warne remembers the 1993 Ashes tour for entirely different
reasons to everyone else. We recall Shane Warne's first delivery
on English soil: a massive leggie that pitched and turned so much
that the then England captain Mike Gatting is still waiting for
it to come out of Warne's hand. No, Simone Warne recalls that
series differently, for it was on that tour that Shane asked her
to marry him. They will remember this year's tour, though, altogether
differently: this time the Warnes are breaking up.
What to make of this separation. Firstly, no surprise, really.
Text, sex and text sex pest controversies have orbited Warne for
most of his career. Whether the recent story about Warne trying
to get a 25-year-old London student to have sex with him is irrelevant,
just as the rest. What is certain that something has forced this
break-up. It is easy to suggest that travelling around to cricket
matches with three kids was not Simone's major concern in the
split.
The second thing, of course, is does anyone truly care? It's
the old debate again: does Shane Warne's life off the field have
anything to do with what he does on it? The answer is simple:
no. There have been trillions of words invested on this topic,
and there is no use mulling it over here, again. Let's keep it
simple, eh? Warne: best leg-spin bowler of all-time, in top five
of all-time great cricketers, once-in-a-lifetime player... And
Warnie: simple bloke ill-equipped to deal with the fact that he
is a professional cricketer and husband. An idiot, in many respects,
because he doesn't realise that when you're one of the greats,
you attract the greatest attention.
And that brings us to our third point regarding Shane Keith Warne.
Do you think, at some stage, his Australian team-mates are getting
a tad jack of an explosive story regarding the private life of
one of their main men erupting before a major assignment? Just
a bit? He did it before the last World Cup in 2002, when he was
exposed for being a drug cheat. You could tell by Ricky Ponting's
response then that the Australian captain was far from impressed.
Asked about news of Warne's separation, Ponting was sympathetic:
"That's awful news for anybody to be separated from your
wife. There's no doubt that everyone in our squad will be in touch
with Shane at some stage." But surely there must be a feeling
in the Australian side of "not again". They must be
over of the Warne circus, right before a tour a tournament. There
is a line that separates what Warne does on and off the field.
Without casting blame or not entirely knowing the circumstances,
though, the timing is lousy. Warne splitting from his missus should
not impact on the team, but there must come a time when they think,
enough is enough. Maybe now that he has broken it off with his
wife, they will be hoping this is the end of it. Finally.
What do you think? Send us your thoughts on today's Upfront and
we'll publish them on our Comebacks page.
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