SHANE'S WORLD

A legend on and offthe pitch, Shane Warne could never be accused of being boring. We look back at his colourful life

- NASIFA SULAIMAN

HE’D just arrived in Koh Samui, Thailand’s second-largest island, on a boys’ break and planned to take full advantage of the five-day holiday in paradise.

The first thing Shane Warne did after the group checked into their luxurious villa was ask, “How can we watch the Australia vs Pakistan Test here in Thailand? The game’s about to start.”

Tom Hall, chief executive of The Sporting News website, was one of the “boys” and recalls how they reminisced about the old days before deciding to get a bite to eat.

Instead of tucking into Thai cuisine, Warne opted for the Aussie staple of Vegemite on toast.

“Shane chomping away, ‘Jeez, you can’t beat Vegemite with some butter, always great wherever you are in the world’,” Tom recalls him saying.

It would be the legendary cricketer’s last meal. Hours later, a suspected heart attack ended the life of one of the most colourful, charismatic and controversial figures cricket has ever known.

His death at just 52 stunned the world. There’d been no indication of anything being wrong, at least not to his friends and fans – he seemed like the same old exuberant Warnie.

When he arrived in Thailand, he laughed and kidded around with fans. At the villa he ordered a new tailored suit and two Thai massages. Shortly before he died, he tweeted a tribute to former Aussie cricketer Rod Marsh, who had just passed away.

Shane, famous for his love of beer, pizza and cigarettes, had been trying to lose weight and days before he died he shared an old picture of himself without a shirt on to Instagram. “Operation shred has started (10 days in),” he wrote.