Shane Warne on his “brutally honest” new documentary

Virgin Radio

11 Jan 2022, 11:40

The legendary Australian cricketer joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about the new feature-length documentary, Shane, which chronicles his rise, fall and rise again. 

Shane is out now digitally, and will be released on DVD and Blu Ray from February 7th. When Chris compared it to Netflix documentary The Last Dance, about basketball star Michael Jordan, the leg-spinner said: “I loved The Last Dance with Michael Jordan. I’ve watched it a few times. I thought it was fantastic. A real good insight into the way he thinks, and I think the docco Shane that I’ve got out there now, I hope it gives a reflection, an indication into me, what made me tick, what sort of person I am.” 

The documentary’s makers spent many hours interviewing Shane, his peers, his friends, sports psychologists, commentators, his family, and even his ex-wife. The ex-cricketer explained that there is “a lot of unseen footage,” saying: “You hear my children take the mickey out of me. My parents, who have never really spoken. So yeah, you get some good insight [from] some close friends, some teammates, and I am brutally honest about the ups and downs of being in the public eye for 30-odd years.” 

Whilst he is widely regarded as one of the best bowlers ever to play the game, Shane tried a couple of other sports before turning his hand to cricket at 19. “I was playing section one men’s tennis at 17, I was ranked number two in Victoria, I was winning a few tournaments,” he said. “I’d just finished Aussie Rules Football at St Kilda, I got a letter saying that ‘Your services are no longer required,’ I was working, delivering beds for Forty Winks, I was delivering pizzas on a Friday night, I was working at jewellery factory, and I thought ‘What am I going to do?’ and suddenly cricket came along. I was playing lower grade cricket, and doing okay, but suddenly cricket found me.”

Although there were periods where Shane “couldn’t do a thing wrong, everything I tried worked, whether it was on the cricket field, off the cricket field”, the former international player explained that the struggles were just as important to him, if not more so. “I know this might sound harsh, but I think if you struggle, you appreciate how hard top level sport is, and being an athlete. And then, when you do have success, it really means something,” he said. 

“I think too many people have come into the sport, any sport, at the top level and had some success, and then suddenly they’re gone because, when they have their failures and start to not do well, they’ve got nothing to fall back on and they don’t appreciate the hard work and sacrifices that have to go into being successful, not just in sport, in business and in life. So I was very lucky, I struggled at the start. It made me work harder. In the end, it took a long time, but I’d like to think that I did have a lot of success, and that people enjoyed watching me play.”

In 2003, Shane was banned from cricket for one year by the Australian Cricket Board when he tested positive for a banned substance, after his mum gave him one of her fluid tables because he had “put on a few kilos”. He explained: “I was banned for 12 months because apparently it was a masking agent, which was proven not to be correct.

“That was a pretty innocent mistake and something I paid heavily for.”

He continued: “It allowed me to realise who my real friends were. A lot of my friends surprised me actually, I didn’t think I was as close to some people as I was, and vice versa, some that I thought I was really close with let me down. So, I think sometimes when you go through those things in your life, it’s a great opportunity to reset, and work out what’s important to you, who is important to you, and what you still want to achieve.

“I played for another 11 years after that, and I’d already played for 12.”

During his chat with Chris, Shane, who is one of only two bowlers to have taken over 1000 wickets in international cricket, paid tribute to his spin mentor, former Australian cricketer Terry Jenner, who died in 2011. “He really helped me understand spin bowling when I first started. I sort of used to let go of the ball and hope that the batsman would make a mistake, and there is so much to it than that,” he said. 

“You have to outthink the batsman, you have to have strategy, you’ve got to be a few overs ahead. You have to have a plan. That plan takes a while to implement. And I loved that strategy and tactic. I’m really patient. And I think I used up all my patience on the cricket field actually, because I’m not patient in much other stuff. 

“He helped me a lot, and unfortunately he’s no longer with us. I miss him every day.”

When Chris asked Shane how he’d get on now, if he had to bowl, the former cricket star said: “Watching some of the batsmen these days play leg-spin, I reckon I’d still do alright! I reckon I could come on and knock a few of these modern day players over, don’t worry!” 

Shane is out now digitally and is released on DVD and Blu Ray from Monday 7th February.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.