Sydney: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes legendary spinner Shane Warne would have been able to turn around England’s flagging fortunes if given a chance to coach the old rivals.
The 52-year-old Warne, who died on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand after suffering a suspected heart attack on March 4, had confided in close friends before his death that he had ambitions to coach England.
I’d like to do it, it’s a great time to be England coach… I think I’d do a pretty good job, Warne told the Sky Sports cricket podcast last month.
However, Ponting had not heard about Warne’s ambitions but said he would have made a great coach if given a chance to coach the England side.
He would have made a great coach. He didn’t (talk to me about that) because I would have tried talking him out of it pretty quickly, the former Australia captain told the ICC website.
I think he had a pretty good idea of things to talk to me about and not talk to me about. I know he’s done a bit of it in The Hundred (with the London Spirit) but having someone like Shane Warne to take over the England cricket team now would have done a great job, he added.
Ponting said it was imperative to carry on Warne’s legacy as one of the sharpest cricket minds the game has ever known.
He’s a huge loss to the world game, whether he would have done some coaching or just the insights he gives through his commentary we’re all going to miss that. It’s up to us now that are still here, and have that great passion for the game, to carry on Shane’s legacy that he left, Ponting said.
An autopsy showed the death last week of Australian cricket great Shane Warne on an island in Thailand was due to natural causes, the Thai police said on Monday.
Warne’s family were told of the result and had accepted the finding. His body would be transferred to Australian consular officials for return to the family, a deputy police spokesman said.
Iinvestigators received the autopsy result, in which the medical opinion is that the cause of death is natural, Kissana Phathanacharoen said in a statement.
“Investigators will summarize the autopsy result for prosecutors within the timeframe of the law.”
Well-wishers left tributes of flowers, flags, an Australian sports shirt, a can of beans and a packet of cigarettes outside the villa on the northeast coast of Koh Samui where Warne was found unconscious.
Warne, 52, one of the finest spin bowlers of all time, whose talent and personality transcended the sport, died on Friday, spurring tributes, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling him one of our nation’s greatest characters.