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Cricket PlayersShane Warne dies: 'Greatest bowler I played with or against. RIP King' - Ponting bids emotional adieu to Aussie legend
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting bid an emotional goodbye to Shane Warne after the Aussie spin wizard passed away at 52 on Friday.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting paid a rich tribute to spin wizard Shane Warne, who tragically passed away from a suspected heart attack on Friday. Ponting shared the dressing room with Warne for a large part of his international career and the duo played a pivotal role in Australia's incredible domination in world cricket at the turn of the century.
Taking to his official Twitter account, Ponting recalled his first meeting with Warne and further called the Aussie great “the greatest bowler I ever played with or against.”
“Hard to put this into words. I first met him when I was 15 at the Academy. He gave me my nickname. We were teammates for more than a decade, riding all the highs and lows together. Through it all, he was someone you could always count on, someone who loved his family, someone who would be there for you when you needed him and always put his mates first,” Ponting wrote.
“The greatest bowler I ever played with or against. RIP King. My thoughts are with Keith, Bridgette, Jason, Brooke, Jackson and Summer.”
Warne died while on a vacation in the Thai island of Koh Samui on Friday, plunging Australia into mourning at the loss of one of the country's most popular sportsmen.
Earlier, Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy, the two men who watched Shane Warne at closest quarters as he spun his way to 708 Test wickets, also paid their tributes to the great spinner. "Have often felt a tad selfish, that Heals (Healy) and I pretty much exclusively are the only ones who had that thrill and pleasure at Test level," Gilchrist had written on his official Twitter account as he bid goodbye to his former teammate.
Healy, who kept wickets for Warne until he hung up his gloves in 1999, said he had particularly enjoyed watching the spinner bamboozling batsmen with his games. "I think Warne's the best bowler there's ever been," Healy told Channel Nine on Saturday.
“His greatest skill was to put a ball where he needed to for this particular batsman for long periods of time.”
