In June 1989, Newport Cricket Club were playing in the prestigious Famous Grouse Western League and on Saturday 24^th June, the club hosted Bristol Imperial. Graham Reynolds was Captain of the Newport team that season but didn’t play in the game, so Mike Knight was asked to captain the team. Graham had briefed the team beforehand that Imperial had a very good young 19 year old Australian leg spinner, who had come over to the UK to get experience of English conditions, as he fancied himself to make a career in cricket. Yes, it was a young Shane Warne who was in the Imperial team to play Newport at the old Rodney Parade ground that day.

A relatively, unknown player at the time …….. who was to know what was about to be unleashed on world cricket!!

The scorecard of the game is displayed proudly in the Club’s museum. It shows that it was not one of Warne’s best days, being run out for 9 in a paltry Imperial total of 147 and Inspite of Warne opening the bowling and bowling throughout the innings, current Club Chairman, Mike Knight scored an unbeaten 74, including a 6 off Warne, as Newport reached 148 – 1, to gain an emphatic 9 wicket victory.

Match Scorecard

June 24^th, 1989 – Newport CC v Bristol Imperial

  The original signed scoresheet sits proudly in Newport Cricket Club’s Museum.

 Paths Cross Again

Newport Cricket Club and Shane Warne’s paths crossed once again in 2005. At the time the Club’s Junior teams were enjoying a fantastic period, regularly winning Gwent and Welsh Cups, but the U13 team of 2005 surpassed all others being crowned Under 13 ECB UK National Champions, with an emphatic unbeaten seven match run at the U13 ECB Finals Week at Oakham School. The team included current Newport players Imran Hassan and Josh Aston.

In recognition of the U13 team’s success, the Club were invited to Sophia Gardens to be presented with the UK Trophy. The presentation was arranged to coincide with Glamorgan’s 45 over one day Totesport Cup match v Hampshire, whose overseas player was Shane Warne. Warne had been part of the Australian 2005 Ashes team and in spite of taking 40 wickets in the series, they’d lost the Ashes Series to England 2 - 1. With the final Ashes Test only finishing a couple of days earlier, he couldn’t play in the game at Cardiff, but he was on the ground as he was about to re-join the Hampshire squad for the rest of the season.

Mike Knight recalled, while we were waiting for our Presentation, we were sat in the back row directly in front of the Hampshire changing room in the old Sophia Gardens pavilion. The boys knew Shane Warne was with the Hampshire team and every time the balcony door opened, they’d look around hoping to see him. The boys duly went onto the outfield during the innings break to be presented with the UK Cup by Nasser Hussain, who was commentating on the match for Sky Sports. The boys did a lap of honour of the ground and returned to their seats, but once again, there was no sign of ‘The King of Spin’. Then about an hour before the end of the game, the balcony door opened and there he was, just five metres behind us.

I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity, as I thought an autograph for the boys from Shane Warne would cap a fantastic day. I engaged in dialogue by asking him if he remembered his days playing in the Western League for Bristol Imperial. He replied by saying ‘Yes great days, good cricket too’.

I introduced our U13 team to him, telling him that they were from Newport Cricket Club and had just been presented with the UK Cup Winners Trophy during the interval.

His response was ‘I played there’, he went on to recall that they’d been beaten heavily and some guy got a big score (me). More amazingly and I’ve never forgotten it, was that he could recall things from the actual game (16 years previously) which I’d forgotten all about. Looking back, his famed attention to detail and remembering facts about every batsmen he played against was clearly evident even then.

Our conversation finished as quickly as it had begun, but not before I’d asked him if he’d sign some autographs for the boys, he replied ‘Yeah ok, I’ll do it later’ and he went back into the changing room again. We didn’t see Shane Warne again and Hampshire were losing heavily. The boys were disappointed not to have got his autograph, but they’d still had a great day. Then, with Glamorgan only needing 1 more wicket for victory, the balcony door opened and he reappeared saying, ‘I’ll do those autographs now’.

For the boys it was something that they’d cherish for a lifetime, for Shane Warne it was another moment that marked him out as the greatest ambassador for cricket that there has ever been.

Some More Shane Warne Stories

Similar stories about Warne’s eagerness to support young fans have been echoed by many others, including some of the Bristol Imperial players who shared this story with us.

Back in 1994 Warne came back to the UK on holiday and linked up with some of his old team mates at Bristol Imperial for a reunion party. Already a Test player now, he was persuaded by the Imperial players to play in the Western League match against St Fagans, which resulted in another defeat in Wales!

Warne enjoyed a party, and meeting up with his old team mates was a great excuse for one. Back in Bristol, the partying lasted long into the night and Warne had ‘had a few’. The only problem was that he’d agreed to run a coaching session and Q & A with the local youngsters at Imperial on the Sunday morning at 9.00am – he’d never make it surely!

Imperial were expecting a lot of children to attend, but doubting that Shane Warne would be there, a couple of the Imperial players drove to the ground, thinking how they were going to explain to a disappointed group of children that the session would have to be cancelled. They drove into the ground 10 mins before the event was due to start expecting to see hundreds of children on the ground, but there was no one there. They couldn’t understand it.They parked the car and walked around towards the front of the pavilion, they heard voices  and proceeded to see who was there. To their amazement they saw 80-100 children sat in a circle with Shane Warne in the middle talking to them – that was Shane Warne.True LEGEND!

Shane Warne with Michael Clayden, Carwyn James, Huw Waters and Nathan Millichip

In 1999, Warne posed for this photo when young Newport players representing Wales attended a coaching session, conducted by Australian Cricketers at Sophia Gardens, during the 1999 World Cup

RIP Shane Warne